THE  ITALIANS 
AMERICA 


PHILIP  M.  ROSE 


THE  ITALIANS 
IN  AMERICA 


BY 

PHILIP  M.  ROSE 

SUPERVISOR        OF        ITALIAN        CONGREGATIONAL 

WORK  IN  CONNECTICUT  AND  PASTOR  OF  THE 

FIRST  ITALIAN  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH, 

HARTFORD,  CONN. 


WITH    AN    INTRODUCTION    BY 

CHARLES  HATCH  SEARS 


NEW  XBjT    YORK 
GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT,    1922, 
BY  GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    AMERICA.       II 


PRINTED  IN  THE   UNITED  STATES   OF  AMERICA 


INTRODUCTION 

The  New  Americans  Series  consists  of  studies  of 
the  following  racial  groups,  together  with  a  study 
of  the  Eastern  Orthodox  Churches : 

Albanian  and  Bulgarian,  Armenian  and  Assyrian- 
Chaldean,  Czecho-Slovak,  Greek,  Italian,  Jewish, 
Jugo-Slav  (Croatian,  Servian,  Slovenian),  Magyar, 
Polish,  Kussian  and  Ruthenian,  or  Ukrainian,  Span 
ish  (Spaniards)  and  Portuguese,  Syrian. 

These  studies,  made  under  the  auspices  of  the  In- 
terchurch  World  Movement  were  undertaken  to 
show,  in  brief  outline,  the  social,  economic  and  re 
ligious  background,  European  or  Asiatic,  of  each 
group  and  to  present  the  experience — social,  eco 
nomic  and  religious — of  the  particular  group  in 
America,  with  special  reference  to  the  contact  of 
the  given  people  with  religious  institutions  in 
America. 

It  was  designed  that  the  studies  should  be  sympa 
thetic  but  critical. 

It  is  confidently  believed  that  this  series  will  help 
America  to  appreciate  and  appropriate  the  spiritual 
wealth  represented  by  the  vast  body  of  New  Ameri 
cans,  each  group  having  its  -own  peculiar  heritage 
and  potentialities ;  and  will  lead  Christian  America, 
so  far  as  she  will  read  them,  to  become  a  better  lover 
of  mankind. 

The  writer,  in  each  case,  is  a  kinsman  or  has  had 
direct  and  intimate  relationship  with  the  people,  or 
group  of  peoples,  presented.  First  hand  knowledge 
and  the  ability  to  study  and  write  from  a  deeply 
sympathetic  and  broadly  Christian  viewpoint  were 
primary  conditions  in  the  selection  of  the  authors. 


5:20220 


vi  INTRODUCTION 

The  author  of  this  volume  is  an  American.  He  has 
a  cultured  Italian- American  wife.  He  is  a  graduate 
(Phi  Beta  Kappa)  of  Dartmouth  College  and  has 
the  B.  D.  and  S.  T.  M.  degrees  from  Hartford  Theo 
logical  Seminary.  He  was  for  two  years  a  fellow  of 
Hartford  Seminary  and  the  Connecticut  Congrega 
tional  Missionary  Society  in  Italy.  Between  two 
pastorates  of  Italian  churches  he  was  for  one  year 
traveling  Y.  M.  C.  A.  secretary  for  prisoners  of  war 
in  Italy,  visiting  many  sections  from  which  our  im 
migrants  come.  He  is  now  pastor  of  an  Italian 
church  and  supervisor  of  Italian  Congregational 
work  in  Connecticut.  His  training  and  experience  fit 
him  well  for  the  writing  of  this  book. 

These  manuscripts  were  published  through  the 
courtesy  of  the  Interchurch  World  Movement  with 
the  cooperative  aid  of  various  denominational 
boards,  through  the  Home  Missions  Councils  of 
America,  and  the  Council  of  Women  for  Home  Mis 
sions. 

At  this  writing  arrangements  have  been  made  for 
the  publication  of  only  six  of  the  Series,  namely; 
Czecho-Slovak,  Greek,  Italian,  Magyar,  Polish  and 
Eussian,  but  other  manuscripts  will  be  published  as 
soon  as  funds  or  advance  orders  are  secured. 

A  patient  review  of  all  manuscripts,  together  with 
a  checking  up  of  facts  and  figures,  has  been  made 
by  the  Associate  Editor,  Dr.  Frederic  A.  Gould,  to 
whom  we  are  largely  indebted  for  statistical  and 
verbal  accuracy.  The  editor  is  responsible  for  the 
general  plan  and  scope  of  the  studies  and  for  ques 
tions  of  policy  in  the  execution  of  this  work. 

CHAKLES  HATCH  SEAKS. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I    THE  BACKGROUND  IN  ITALY     . 

Part  I:  History  and  Racial  Relationships 
Part  II:  The  Recent  Political  Situation  . 
Part  III:  Economic  Conditions  . 
Part  IV:  Social  Conditions  .  .30 

Part  V:  Religious  Conditions       .  .       41 

II     THE     IMMIGRATION     AND     ECONOMIC 

CONDITIONS  OF  ITALIAN- AMERICANS       53 
Part  I:  Immigration 
Part  II:  Economic  Conditions     .  .       60 

III  SOCIAL      CONDITIONS      AND      EDUCA 

TIONAL    FORCES    AMONG    ITALIAN- 
AMERICANS     .67 

Part  I:  Social  Conditions     ....       67 
Part  II:  Educational  Forces        .  .       84 

IV  RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS  AMONG  ITAL 

IAN-AMERICANS     . 

Part  I:  Old  and  New  Faiths  and  Churches      99 
Part  II:  Methods  of  Work     . 
Part  III:  Religious  Literature     .  .     127 
V    PROBLEMS     OF     RELIGIOUS    LEADER 
SHIP     .132 

VI     CONCLUSIONS       AND       RECOMMENDA 
TIONS  .139 

VII    APPENDICES 

A    Example  of  a  Complete  Program  for 

Italian  Missions 143 

B     Schedule     of    Judson     Neighborhood 

House,  New  York  City      ...     146 
C     Program    of    Davenport    Settlement, 

New  Haven,  Conn 148 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 149 

INDEX     .  153 

vii 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 


Dante  Alighieri 

A  Public  Laundry  Basin  ...  .       .       32 

Primitive  Irrigating  Plant       .  ...       32 

The  Cottian  Alps       . 

Map  of  the  Vaudois  Valleys  .  .33 

The  Wall  of  Termoli,  on  the  Adriatic  .  80 

Carunchio,  Typical  Hilltop  Town  .  ..80 

San  Giovanni  in  Conca,  Milan 

Orchestra  of  the  Italian  Church  and  School  of  Dante, 
Waterbury,  Conn 


THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 


THE  ITALIANS 
IN  AMERICA 

Chapter  I 
THE  BACKGBOUND  IN  ITALY 

Parti 

HISTOKY  AND  RACIAL,  RELATIONSHIPS 

One  needs  but  to  call  attention  to  the  geographical 
position  and  alluring  climate  of  Italy  to  make  it 
understood  why  in  all  ages  Italy  has  been  the 
meeting  place  of  many  races.  Its  narrow  peninsula, 
seductive  by  nature  and  enriched  by  man,  stands 
athwart  the  Mediterranean  highway  at  the  cross 
roads  of  East  and  West,  North  and  South.  Not  only 
have  modern  artists  and  tourists  been  drawn  thither 
and  lingered,  but  whole  nations  have  come,  seen, 
struggled  for  a  foothold,  lived  and  died  there. 

Italy  meeting  ground  of  races. — This  means  min 
gled  blood  and  mixed  psychological  heritage  amid 
changing  conditions,  and  they  are  everything.  The 
Komans  ruled  a  polyglot  race  before  the  barbarians 
swept  in  from  the  North,  and  the  Lombards  formed 
their  state  in  the  Po  Valley.  Sicily  is  the  most 
extreme  example  of  all  the  southern  provinces  in  the 
multiplied  migrations  which  have  overrun  it  and 
left  their  racial  impress.  The  original  Siculi,  the 
Greeks,  the  Carthaginians,  the  Eomans,  the  Goths, 
the  Saracens,  the  Normans,  the  Germans,  the 

13 


1fr/  •'    /:  *'*t:TI?E  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

French,  and  the  Spaniards  make  up  the  long  suc 
cession  of  its  possessors.  When  this  has  been  con 
sidered  and  its  concomitant,  the  well-nigh  chronic 
state  of  war  during  many  centuries,  the  observation 
of  an  Italian  to  his  English  friend  becomes  luminous. 
"You  English,"  he  said,  "are  always  writing  books 
about  Italy  and  the  Italians — but  it  never  seems  to 
strike  you  that  there  are  many  Italies  and  many 
Italians;  and  you  forget  that  the  plebiscites  which 
gave  us  political  unity  and  liberty  did  not  at  the 
same  time  miraculously  create  a  new  race."1 

Crucible  of  social  experiment. — For  many  cen 
turies  Italy  has  been  a  seething  crucible  of  political 
and  social  experiment,  ofttimes  splendid,  ever  novel. 
To  speak  only  of  older  times,  the  monastic  system 
molded  the  society  of  the  Dark  Ages  and  conserved 
the  values  of  ancient  civilization;  the  papacy,  more 
Italian  than  aught  else,  was  the  storm  center  of  Eu 
rope  for  a  thousand  years ;  the  Eenaissance  of  learn 
ing  found  its  preeminent  field  in  Italy;  the  succes 
sion  of  city  republics,  Pisa,  Florence,  Genoa,  Milan, 
Venice,  left  a  precious  legacy  to  the  world  in  many 
fields  of  endeavor.  Some  names  of  these  times,  for 
example,  EFante,  Petrarch,  St.  Francis,  Michelangelo, 
Eaphael,  Savonarola,  Galileo,  Columbus,  are  su 
preme  names  on  the  roll  of  human  achievement  and 
demonstrate  the  superlativeness  of  Italian  genius. 

In  the  South. — For  our  purpose,  we  must  recall 
the  South,  or  Meridionale  as  it  is  called,  coupled 
with  the  adjacent  island  of  Sicily.  It  had  its  lesser 
glories  also ;  but  ever  a  rural  land,  it  is  never  to  be 
forgotten  as  (before  the  unification  of  Italy)  the 
often  devastated  and  desolate,  tyrant-ridden,  priest- 
dominated  South.  Keduced  by  war  and  misgovern- 
ment,  through  long  ages,  its  people  had  become  iso 
lated,  provincial,  primitive,  ignorant  and  not  rarely 

1  Bagot,  My  Italian  Tear,  p.  16. 


THE  BACKGROUND  IN  ITALY  15 

barbaric.  At  no  time  was  this  worse  than  just  be 
fore  the  unification  of  Italy  when  the  Bourbons 
ruled  the  kingdoms  of  Naples  and  Sicily  through  a 
government  which  Gladstone  called  the  "negation 
of  God." 

The  success  of  the  American  War  for  Independ 
ence,  and  the  overthrow  of  the  monarchy  by  the 
French  Eevolution  encouraged  the  educated  classes 
of  Italy  to  hope  and  action. 

Political  union  of  Italy. — The  campaigns  of  Na 
poleon  broke  up  the  existing  order  in  the  land,  and 
the  subsequent  carving  up  of  Italy,  without  regard 
to  the  wishes  of  its  people,  strengthened  the  pur 
pose  of  Italian  independence  and  unity.  A  remark 
able  galaxy  of  great  men  reduced  the  dream  to  a 
fact  of  glorious  accomplishment.  Most  of  them  were 
natives  of  the  northern  provinces  and  their  task 
resolved  itself  at  first  into  adding  province  after 
province  to  the  existing  kingdom  of  Sardinia,  and 
in  making  its  dynasty  the  dynasty  of  the  new  king 
dom  of  Italy.  Mazzini  was  the  prophet  and  pen  of 
the  movement,  Cavour  was  its  statesman,  and  Gari 
baldi  the  knight-errant.  Victor  Emmanuel  II  kept 
careful,  sympathetic  watch  over  all.  The  establish 
ment  of  the  constitution  in  1848,  the  participation 
of  Italy  in  the  Crimean  War,  the  waging  of  the  wars 
with  Austria,  the  Expedition  of  Garibaldi  into 
Sicily  and  the  south,  the  campaigns  in  papal  ter 
ritory,  and  the  entrance  into  Eome  through  the 
breach  of  the  Porta  Pia,  on  the  20th  of  September, 
1870,  were  all  steps  through  which  Italy  from  the 
Alps  to  Sicily  finally  became  one.  In  most  cases 
popular  vote  confirmed  what  military  or  political 
action  had  opened  the  way  for,  annexation  to  Pied 
mont,  seat  of  the  kingdom  of  Sardinia  and  of  the 
House  of  Savoy. 


16  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

Part  II 

RECENT   POLITICAL   SITUATION 

When  the  great  result  for  which  patriots  had 
been  longing  and  fighting  for  nearly  a  hundred 
years  had  been  accomplished,  Victor  Emmanuel  could 
say:  "My  heart  thrills  as  I  salute  all  the  representa 
tives  of  our  united  country  for  the  first  time,  and 
say,  Italy  is  free  and  united;  it  remains  for  us  to 
make  her  great,  prosperous  and  happy. "  2  His  was 
a  just  estimate  of  the  situation,  as  fifty  years  of 
Italian  unity  have  demonstrated. 

The  old  and  the  new. — The  observer,  catching  the 
spirit  of  the  Italian  people  up  and  down  the  land, 
feels  that  here  is  a  young  people,  detached  from  its 
past,  with  new  aspirations,  striving  within  and  with 
out  Italy  to  take  its  "place  in  the  sun"  in  a  modern 
day.  But  the  student  of  history  knows  that  civil 
progress  is  achieved  only  by  pain  and  travail.  The 
dead  hand  of  olden  days  has  ever  been  present  to 
stay  social  progress.  Italy  was  an  old  land,  with 
a  complicated  system  of  hoary  usages,  not  a  new 
land  of  infinite  resources  with  institutions  and  cus 
toms  still  being  established,  as  in  America.  More 
over,  in  the  material  development  of  modern  life, 
everything  was  to  be  done,  especially  in  the  south, 
which  was  called  upon  to  jump  from  the  Middle 
Ages  to  the  Twentieth  Century  at  a  bound. 

Part  HI 

ECONOMIC    CONDITIONS 

In  laying  economic  foundations  and  in  evolving 
new  social  institutions,  what  success  has  Italy  had  in 

2  Quoted,  Our  Italian  Fellow  Citizens,  F.  E.  Clark,  p.  31. 


DANTK   AI.IGHIERI 


Memorial  to  the  Poet,  by  Abhate,  at  the  Waterlmry  Italian  School  of  Uante,  Water- 
burv  Connecticut.    Dedicated  on  the  60()th  anniversary  of  his  death,  October  16th,  1921. 


/ 


THE  BACKGROUND  IN  ITALY  17 

fifty  years!  The  following  picture  largely  restricts 
itself  to  those  people  and  provinces  contributing  to 
the  immigrant  current  pouring  into  the  United 
States,  and  treats  not  so  much  of  contemporary  con 
ditions,  modified  by  war,  as  of  the  generation  pre 
ceding. 

Industrial  problems  and  progress. — The  growth 
of  industry  and  the  laying  of  railways  began  in  a 
modest  way  in  the  north  while  the  Kingdom  of  Sar 
dinia  was  composed  only  of  Piedmont  and  Liguria, 
and  Lombardy  and  Venice  were  still  under  the 
rigorous  Austrian.  And  although  coal,  ore  and 
wood  are  deficient  throughout  the  peninsula,  indus 
try  has  made  substantial  progress  as  far  south  as 
Tuscany  and  the  Koman  provinces,  and  less  notice 
ably  and  much  more  recently  in  certain  urban  dis 
tricts  of  the  Meridionale  and  Sicily.  A  splendid 
system  of  railways,  built  by  or  ultimately  acquired 
by  the  State,  is  now  fairly  complete.  Only  abundant 
and  cheap  labor,  captained  by  splendid  engineering 
skill,  could  have  made  possible  their  construction 
throughout  a  mountainous  land,  but  it  added  a  huge 
item  to  the  public  expense  and  the  public  debt  which 
came  over  from  the  wars  of  Independence.  Where 
capital  has  made  it  possible,  water-power,  of  which 
there  is  an  abundance,  has  been  harnessed,  and  fur 
thers  manufacturing  and  transportation.  Such  de 
velopment  is  found  chiefly  in  the  north,  but  Italy 
lacks  capital  and  her  well-to-do  often  lack  the  cour4 
age  to  risk  their  means,  as  capital  is  risked  in  busi 
ness  in  other  countries.  A  great  development  took 
place  in  industry  during  the  war.  But  Italian  in 
dustry  has  been  largely,  and  is  to  date,  handicraft  of 
a  specialized  and  artistic  nature. 

Standard  of  living  of  Italian  workman. — In  pro 
portion  to  the  frugal  standard  of  living,  the  Italian 
workman  has  been  well  paid  except  in  the  Venetian 
provinces  where  he  rarely  makes  more  than  three 


18  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

francs  a  day.  Wages  have  varied  greatly  in  various 
localities,  but  so  has  the  cost  of  living.  War  and 
post-war  wages  have  been  three  and  four  times  the 
previous  scale,  but  the  cost  of  life,  though  scanty 
and  poor,  has  risen  to  a  dizzy  height.  Summing  up, 
it  may  be  said  of  town  life  in  Italy,  that  twenty-five 
years  ago  it  was  cheap,  and  from  that  time  to  the 
chaotic  conditions  of  the  war  had  grown  gradually 
dearer.3 

During  her  fifty  years  of  national  life  Italy  has 
been  an  agricultural  people,  and  preeminently  so  in 
the  south.  The  condition  of  the  peasant  popula 
tion  has  produced  in  Italy  its  gravest  problems. 

The  peasants. — By  "  peasantry  "  we  mean  the  in 
habitants  of  the  rural  towns  without  major  indus 
tries.  They  may  be  tillers  of  the  soil,  or  of  various 
trades,  but  all  make  a  better  or  worse  living  as  agri 
culture  thrives  in  their  district,  or  is  adequate  to 
support  the  population. 

Agriculture  in  the  north. — Both  in  agriculture 
and  in  industry  northern  Italy  has  had  superior 
advantages  over  the  south.  Its  peasantry  were 
never  reduced  to  the  poverty  and  barbarism  of  the 
south,  but  profited  from  better  markets,  growth  and 
organization.  Agriculture  is  profitable  there,  and 
the  people  contented.  These  provinces,  even  during 
the  war,  were  so  rich  in  production  that  they  felt 
no  pinch  of  the  scarcity  of  food  from  which  all  the 
rest  of  Italy  was  suffering.  In  general  the  char 
acter  of  the  rainfall  and  other  climatic  conditions 
allow  a  wide  choice  of  crops,  and  vigorous  growth, 
on  a  soil  responsive  to  fertilizer.4  Much  land  has 
been  reclaimed  or  improved  through  irrigation  and 
terracing,  rural  cooperation  has  made  great  ad 
vance,  and  rural  credits  have  been  established  and 


3  Bagot,  Italians  of  To-day,  pp.  52,  62. 

4  Foerster,  Italian  Emigration  of  our  Times,  p.  107. 


THE  BACKGROUND  IN  ITALY  19 

combined  with  a  system  of  expert  agriculture  (for 
example  in  the  neighborhood  of  Verona),  judged  by 
many  economists  to  be  the  best  in  the  world. 

Defects. — We  are  here  concerned,  however,  not 
with  the  perfection  of  agriculture  so  much  as  those 
defects  and  inadequacies  of  it  which  have  provoked 
emigration.  In  the  foothills  of  the  Alps,  the  cold  is 
intense  and  the  season  of  enforced  idleness  long, 
and  much  of  the  land  through  its  mountainous  na 
ture  is  unproductive.  Sometimes  the  yield  is  not 
worth  the  labor  involved.  The  summer  in  certain 
sections  is  so  deficient  in  rainfall  that  irrigating 
works  must  be  maintained.  Inheritance  customs, 
etc.,  have  brought  about  extreme  subdivision  of  the 
land  into  parcels  too  small  to  provide  a  living  income 
for  a  normal  family.  Absentee  landlordism  (as,  for 
instance,  in  lower  Lombardy  where  absentee  land 
lords  hold  about  90  per  cent  of  the  land)  (Poerster, 
page  111)  has  a  vicious  effect  in  itself,  and  through 
certain  types  of  rent  contracts  has  kept  down  the 
enterprise  and  prosperity  of  the  tenant  farmer, 
while  the  hired  laborer  has  known  years  during  the 
period  lately  passed  when  there  was  sheer  insuf 
ficiency  of  food.  Especially  has  this  been  true  of 
the  Veneto.  At  times  the  disease  of  pellagra  has 
added  to  the  misery.  Taxes,  increasing  even  previ 
ous  to  the  war,  have  been  heavy,  although  better 
distributed  than  in  the  Meridionale. 

Agriculture  in  the  south. — Turning  to  southern 
Italy  and  Sicily,  we  find  that  life  has  been  even  more 
difficult  than  in  the  north.  Naples,  situated  in  the 
district  of  Campania,  Palermo,  located  in  the  lovely 
Conca  d'Oro  (Golden  Shell) — two  of  the  garden 
spots  of  the  world,  and  producing  several  crops  per 
annum — give  to  the  foreign  observer  a  false  idea  of 
the  fertility  and  agricultural  success  of  the  south 
and  Sicily,  in  general.  But  nature  is  by  no  means 
wholly  favorable,  and  where  intelligence  and  capital 


20  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

have  essayed  to  supply  her  deficiencies,  they  have 
often  met  conditions  they  were  powerless  to 
remedy.5  « 

Defective  physical  conditions. — The  primary  im 
pediment  is  the  lack  of  rainfall.  The  vista  of  hills, 
mountains  and  plains  covered  with  grain  in  early 
spring,  makes  the  land  seem  still  to  be  the  great 
granary  that  it  anciently  was,  but  there  is  the  sum 
mer  drought  which  may  endure  up  to  seven  months, 
when  the  land  in  large  part  is  valueless  except  for 
the  picking  of  goats,  and  which,  in  general,  reduces 
the  variety  in  crops.  At  such  times  the  grass  of 
Sicily  is  a  lifeless  brown  and  it  is  necessary  to  go 
long  distances  for  drinking  water.  Such  a  soil  re 
duces  the  value  of  fertilizer,  which  in  turn  if  de 
pendent  on  animals  is  deficient,  because  great  herds 
of  cattle  cannot  exist.  These  conditions  have  been 
aggravated  by  deforestation  which  has  on  the  one 
hand  exposed  the  denuded  mountains  to  erosion  and 
consequent  landslides,  and  on  the  other  the  fertile 
valleys  to  inundation  by  the  spring  torrents,  leaving 
gravel  and  debris  over  the  most  fertile  parts  of  the 
valley  bottoms. 7  In  1878  nearly  half  the  area  under 
water  in  valleys  deficient  in  drainage  was  in  the 
Basilicata,  Calabria  and  Campania.6  Great  projects 
of  reforestation  and  rectification  of  the  streams  (de 
layed  by  the  war,  and  requiring  millions  of  capital) 
have  only  been  taken  in  hand  in  recent  years.  An 
other  great  discouragement  to  agriculture  has  been 
the  malaria  due  to  the  swamps  and  pools  remaining 
from  the  spring  floods,  and  as  rampant  in  the  nine 
teenth  century  (until  the  government  of  united  Italy 
was  able  to  take  up  the  problem),  as  in  any  age.  In 
telligent  understanding  of  the  menace,  and  measures 
both  for  its  elimination  and  treatment  of  the  sick 

B  Foerster,  p.  49. 

6  Resultati  del  I'inchiesta  sulle  condizioni  igieniche,  pp.  48, 
quoted  by  Foerster. 


THE  BACKGROUND  IN  ITALY  21 

through  a  government  distribution  of  quinine,  have 
had  very  beneficial  effects.  In  1912  barely  3,100 
persons  died  of  the  disease,  but  as  late  as  the  year 
1887  21,000  succumbed.  Though  Lombardy  has  had, 
among  the  northern  provinces,  a  wide  prevalence  of 
the  disease,  the  deaths  in  the  Basilicata  in  1901-05 
averaged  fifty  times  as  many  in  proportion  to  its 
inhabitants  as  those  of  Lombardy.  Malaria  abounds 
in  the  central  and  coast  region  of  Basilicata  and 
Calabria.7  Beyond  the  impediment  to  agriculture 
of  a  sick  population,  the  necessity  of  living  upon 
the  hills  and  going  long  distances  to  cultivate  the 
fertile  lowlands  has  been  a  graver  obstacle.8 

Defective  methods. — In  the  Meridionale  and 
Sicily,  the  three  elements  to  be  noted  in  the  agricul 
tural  system  are  the  large  estates,  extensive  cultiva 
tion,  and  primitive  instruments  and  practices.  Re 
forms  in  land  tenure  and  the  abolition  of  feudalism 
before  1870  did  not  bring  land  into  the  hands  of 
the  poor.  When  the  new  government  sold  off  the 
lands  of  the  ecclesiastical  establishments,  much  of 
it  went  to  persons  already  in  easy  circumstances, 
and  much  of  it  later  passed  to  the  large  proprietors 
when  the  poor  were  forced  to  sell  to  escape  interest 
charges  and  taxes.  A  great  opportunity  was  lost 
when,  <fin  a  region  where  agriculture  was  a  para 
mount  source  of  wealth,  the  mere  possession  of  a 
large  estate  continued  to  supply  an  all-sufficient  in 
come  to  the  possessor."9 

Landlords  and  peasants. — It  has  been  calculated 
on  the  returns  of  the  census  of  1901,  that  three- 
eighths  of  the  landlords  of  the  Basilicata,  two-fifths 
of  those  of  Calabria  and  two-thirds  of  those  of 
Sicily  were  absentees,  living  in  Naples,  Palermo  or 
the  provincial  capitals,  and  rarely  or  never  visiting 

7  Foerster,  p.  60. 

8  Foerster,  p.  62. 

9  Foerster,  pp.  65-68. 


22  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

their  estates.  The  agent,  or  factor,  has  been  all 
powerful.  Another  characteristic  figure  has  been 
the  great  leaseholder,  called  in  Sicily  the  gabe- 
lotto.  Often  he  has  been  little  more  than  a  specu 
lator  in  leases.  Land  is  leased  for  one  or  usually 
a  few  years  by  the  peasants,  individually  or  some 
times  collectively,  and  although  they  are  good  bar 
gainers,  they  have  often  been  forced  to  accept  con 
ditions  which  secured  the  proprietor  in  his  return 
but  left  the  peasant  with  little  return,  especially  if 
the  harvest  were  bad.  This  has  not  made  for  ef 
ficient  agriculture,  either  in  maintaining  the  soil  in 
good  condition  or  in  introducing  modern  machinery. 
Often  the  peasant  has  considered  the  use  of  machin 
ery  an  attempt  uto  go  ahead  of  the  Eternal  Father, 
who  therefor  punishes  him  with  bad  harvests."10 
Myriads  of  small  plots  are  cultivated  not  by  the 
plow,  often  primitive  enough,  but  by  the  zappa, 
a  heavy  mattock.  Methods  of  making  oil  and  wine 
have  frequently  been  defective.  To  sum  up — 
neglect  of  their  interests  by  proprietors;  contracts 
which  encourage  exploitation  of  the  soil;  a  general 
failure  to  return  profits  to  the  land  and  make  better 
ments  are  the  great  obstacles  to  successful  agricul 
ture  in  the  south  and  Sicily.  They  have  probably 
complicated  agriculture  and  the  life  of  those  de 
pendent  upon  it  more  than  intractable  natural  con 
ditions.11 

Standard  of  living  in  the  south. — According  to 
the  census  of  1901  "in  the  Basilicata  a  quarter  of 
the  agricultural  population,  in  Calabria  and  Sicily 
a  sixth,  are  persons  who  cultivate  lands  of  their 
own,  a  much  lower  proportion  than  in  Central  and 
Northern  Italy.''12  Of  these  proprietors  a  great 

10  Quoted  by  Foerster  from  V.  di  Somma,  Dell'Economia  rurale 
nel  Mezzogiorno,  Nuova  Antologia,  March  16,  1916. 

11  Foerster,  p.  82. 

12  Quoted,  Foerster,  p.  83. 


THE  BACKGROUND  IN  ITALY  23 

majority  own  small  or  diminutive  plots.  Only  in  an 
occasional  locality  of  great  fertility  has  the  small 
proprietor  been  conspicuously  successful.  In  Sicily 
very  few  can  live  by  merely  working  their  own 
lands.  The  survivors  of  the  holders  of  the  dis 
tributed  ecclesiastical  lands  have  had  to  struggle 
with  payments  on  onerous  mortgages.  The  share- 
cultivation,  mentioned  as  widely  in  vogue,  has  not 
been  found  adapted  to  southern  conditions.  The 
few  big  tenant  farmers,  the  Sicilian  gabelotti 
especially,  have  been  markedly  successful.  But  un 
dertenants,  the  more  numerous  group,  have  been  an 
abject  class.13  Most  miserable  of  all,  the  residuum  of 
the  population,  making  up  half  the  cultivators  in  the 
Basilicata  and  two-thirds  of  them  in  Calabria  and 
Sicily,  are  the  hired  laborers.  They  are  especially 
miserable  when  engaged  by  the  day,  as  three  out  of 
four  of  them  are.  At  the  time  of  the  Parliamentary 
investigation,  in  1877,  their  wages  (to  this  day  paid 
largely  in  kind)  were  one  to  one  and  a  half  francs 
per  working-day,  with  an  extra  franc  daily  in  the 
harvest  period  and  as  little  as  half  a  franc  per  day 
in  the  slack  season.  In  a  recent  study  in  1911,  the 
usual  wage  in  the  upper  Basilicata  is  stated  to  be 
1.50  francs  and  food,  or  2.20  francs  without  food, 
with  unemployment  general  in  January  and  Febru 
ary.  In  interior  Sicily,  1.80  francs  per  day  may  be 
earned  for  150  to  200  days,  with  a  better  wage  on  the 
coast.14  On  the  peninsula  the  women  engage  in  the 
exhaustive  toil  of  the  fields.  In  Sicily  they  are  al 
lowed  to  do  this  much  less,  but  boys  of  fourteen  go 
to  work  too  soon,  and  in  the  notorious  case  of  the 
sulphur  mines  have  been  allowed  to  be  exploited  in 
a  sort  of  slavery  for  a  sum  of  100  to  200  francs,  a 
slavery  which  has  been  often  but  little  better  morally 
than  economically. 

13  Foerster,  p.  84. 

14  Foerster,  p.  85. 


24  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

The  cry  of  exploitation  rising  generally  from  the 
agricultural  workers  was  well  substantiated  by  the 
famous  Baron  Sonnino  (La  Sicilia  in  1876,  II 
253  ff.,  noted  by  Foerster)  early  in  the  union  of 
Italy.  Up  to  the  exodus  of  emigration,  the  tenant 
farmer  was  almost  always  in  the  inferior  position 
for  bargaining.  The  day  laborer,  unskilled  and  un 
organized,  was  even  worse  off,  and  obliged  to  ac 
cept  the  wage  which  he  supposed  was  the  highest 
he  could  get.  At  times  rents  have  not  been  ad 
justed  to  prices,  and  always  to  the  tenant  cultiva 
tor's  disadvantage. 

Feudalism  and  taxes. — The  former  feudal  and 
communal  rights  of  gathering  wood,  food,  stone, 
etc.,  have  continued  to  disappear.  The  writer  was 
in  a  Sicilian  village  where  occasionally  the  grand 
proprietors  allowed  the  contadini  to  gather  fag 
ots  on  their  lands  but  occasionally  had  one  ar 
rested  and  fined  to  show  their  whip  hand.  The 
heavy  taxes  in  Italy  have  been  aggravated  in  the 
south  by  inequalities  in  assessments  of  agricultural 
property  estimated  according  to  ancient  bases,  and 
tax  reforms  penetrate  there  last.  Government 
monopolies,  internal  custom  duties,  put  great  bur 
dens  on  the  people,  and  we  shall  see  that  only  a 
part  of  the  tax  revenue  gets  back  to  the  people  in 
easing  the  burden  of  communal  life.15  The  neces 
sarily  frugal  life  of  the  people,  sometimes  des 
perately  so  because  of  their  poverty,  we  shall  dis 
cover  as  we  note  the  social  conditions. 

Emigration  in  general. — One  of  the  principal  eco 
nomic  and  social  phenomena  of  Italy  is  emigration. 
It  has  been  one  of  the  chiefest  migrations  of  mod 
ern  times.  Although  emigration  from  the  south 
was  severely  prohibited  during  the  first  decades  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  it  has  freely  gone  on  from 

18  Foerster,  pp.  88-93. 


THE  BACKGROUND  IN  ITALY  25 

the  North  during  the  whole  period  since  the  strug 
gle  for  united  Italy  began.  It  was  considerable  to 
other  countries  than  the  United  States  in  the  early 
decades,  and  to  them  the  outflow  since  1860  has 
risen  to  a  great  stream.  The  total  number  of  re 
corded  emigrants  for  the  thirty-eight  years,  1876- 
1914,  is  about  fourteen  millions,  although  only 
4,000,000  have  permanently  remained.16  Huge  num 
bers  have  gone  to  Brazil  and  Argentina.  After 

1886  the  stream  overseas  to  the  Americas  came  to 
surpass  all  other  currents.    Important  to  note,  and 
perhaps  surprising  to  many  people,  is  what  a  rival 
Argentina  has  been  to  the  United  States  in  Italian 
immigration,   having  received  from  1857  to   1914 
2,274,379  persons.17 

To  the  United  States. — Only  thirty  Italians  came 
to  the  United  States  in  1820.    The  great  migration, 

1887  to  1916,  brought  3,984,976   (Foerster,  p.  17), 
while  2,109,974  of  these  came   during  the  decade 
1906-1916,  333,231  northern  Italians,  the  rest  from 
the  south  and  Sicily.    From  1871  on,  the  date  of 
the  beginning  of  larger  migration  from  the  south, 
there  has  always  been  a  larger  or  smaller  return 
movement,  and  a  reemigration  on  the  part  of  some 
to  the  United  States.    The  largest  number  of  Ital 
ians  returning  from  the  United  States  to  Italy  since 
1906  was   167,335   in   1908,   the   smallest   number, 
9,176,  in  1918.18    Italian  students  of  the  problem  in 
the  United  States  usually  agree  that  about  two- 
thirds  eventually  emigrate  to  the  United  States  per 
manently.    Prof.  Mangano  estimated  in  1917  that, 
taking  into  account  the  necessary  vital  statistics, 
there  were  in  the  United  States  3,500,000  Italians 
and  their  children  born  in  the  country.19 

16  Foerster,  pp.  8,  42. 

17  Foerster,  p.  16. 

18  Foerster,  p.  31. 

19  Mangano,  Eeligioiis  Work  among  Italians  in  America,  p.  5. 


26  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

Causes. — The  causes  as  already  suggested  of  this 
\exodus  to  the  United  States  are  overwhelmingly 
*  economic.  This  is  true  in  large  part  as  well  of  the 
return  and  reemigration  movements.  The  well 
known  observer  of  Italian  life,  Luigi  Villari,  re 
ceived  from  Italian  workmen  building  the  Simplon 
tunnel,  in  answer  to  his  question  whether  they  loved 
their  country,  the  reply,  "  Italy  is  for  us  whoever 
gives  us  our  bread."  20  Italian  emigrants  love  their 
native  land,  but  nevertheless  it  is  true  that  in  the 
whole  migration  they  have  been  thrust  forth  from 
her  by  dire  economic  necessity.  The  land  is  neither 
sufficient  nor  sufficiently  well  cultivated  to  support 
the  large  population.  In  the  whole  total  the  adven 
turous  or  persecuted  element  has  been  negligible. 
The  northern  Italians,  more  literate,  more  self-gov 
erning,  of  a  higher  standard  of  life,  have  felt  their 
harsh  economic  condition  more  keenly,  their  right 
to  a  better,  and  have  sought  to  remedy  their  misery 
by  going  far  afield.  But  all  Italy  to  a  lesser  degree 
has  felt  this  stirring  of  life,  and  this  economic  re 
volt.  Industrial  Europe  and  the  new  world  has 
provided  them  economic  slaves,  an  economic  oppor 
tunity. 

Early  comers. — In  the  United  States,  besides  a 
small  group  of  cultured,  political  refugees  (witness 
the  stay  here  of  Giuseppe  Garibaldi),  the  first 
comers  were  the  fruit  and  oil  merchants,  the  sailors 
of  Italian  ports,  peddlers  of  statuettes,  organ- 
grinders,  and  stone-cutters.  In  1880  a  maximum 
of  20,000  were  in  New  York.  Meanwhile  the  stories 
of  the  " fabulous"  opportunities  in  America  had 
penetrated  the  country  districts,  and  many  thou 
sands  were  following  the  earlier  comers  from  their 
own  villages  to  work  in  the  construction  enterprises 
incident  to  our  great  industrial  expansion  which  be 
came  so  prodigious  in  the  decade  1900-1910. 
20  Foerster,  p.  22. 


THE  BACKGROUND  IN  ITALY  27 

Type  of  immigration  to  the  United  States. — The 

relatively  small  proportion  of  northern  Italians  to 
the  sum  total  emigrating  to  the  United  States 
(about  1  in  6  in  1910),  and  the  unskilled  character 
of  the  immigration  in  general  is  due  not  alone  to 
conditions  in  the  old  country,  but  to  the  unequal 
opportunity  which  America  offers  to  the  different 
classes  of  Italian  society.  America  has  not  wanted, 
save  in  exceptional  trades  and  professions,  the 
skilled  worker  or  professional  man.  Handicapped 
by  ignorance  of  English,  by  the  lack  of  a  welcome, 
by  methods  of  work  diverse  from  his  own,  the  skilled 
worker  or  professional  man  can  only  hope  to  find 
a  meager  opportunity  in  Italian  colonies  or  sink 
into  unskilled  work.  For  years  Italian  consuls  have 
discouraged  professional  immigration,  often  being 
obliged  to  repatriate  persons  of  ability,  penniless 
and  disillusioned.  The  writer,  even  after  consulta 
tion  with  the  local  consul,  was  obliged  to  tell  an 
expert  Italian  accountant  recently  come  from  Italy 
that  there  was  no  place  to  offer  him  in  his  line  in 
an  American  city  of  100,000  full  of  such  business 
and  with  an  Italian  colony  of  14,000.  Such  persons, 
and  northern  Italians  more  largely,  have  preferred 
to  exploit  the  new  lands  of  Argentina  and  Brazil 
where  the  language  is  cognate  and  a  new  Italian 
civilization  offering  opportunity  to  all  professions 
has  been  founded.! 

Immigrants  of  the  lower  trades  have  been  increas 
ing  where  their  trades  are  largely  required  by  their 
fellow-countrymen,  or  they  can  speedily  adapt  them 
selves  to  the  American  requirements.  Such  are 
stone-cutters,  mechanics,  mariners,  masons,  barbers, 
seamstresses,  and  shoemakers.  Their  participation 
in  American  life  is  well  known.  But  by  far  the 
greater  number  of  Italian  immigrants  have  been 
laborers,  usually  from  half  to  two-thirds  of  the  total. 
Entirely  sensitive  in  their  swelling  or  diminishing 


28  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

numbers  to  the  need  or  surfeit  of  them  in  American 
enterprise,  it  has  been  an  easy  thing  for  men  whose 
work  has  been  chiefly  done  with  the  mattock  to  wield 
in  America  the  pick  and  shovel.21 

Permanence. — It  is  this  group,  in  which  the  great 
est  proportion  are  males,  which  in  the  last  thirty 
years  have  made  up  four-fifths  of  Italian  emigra 
tion  to  the  United  States.  It  is  also  this  group 
which  makes  up  the  majority  of  those  who  return 
to  Italy  within  five  years  of  their  arrival  here.  The 
practice  of  coming  first  to  America,  then  returning 
for  wife  or  relatives  for  permanent  settlement,  has 
been  quite  widespread,  but  in  recent  years  the  in 
creasing  temporariness  of  Italian  immigration  has 
interfered  greatly  with  this  cycle.  Indeed  southern 
Italy  has  been  spoken  of  as  the  land  " where  going 
to  America  is  a  business."  22 

By  locality. — As  influencing  the  character  of  im 
migration  and  assimilation  of  immigration  to  Amer 
ica  it  is  interesting  to  know  its  movement  by  local 
ity  in  Italy.  The  man  from  the  Abruzzi  is  a  dif 
ferent  type  from  the  Neapolitan,  and  he  from  the 
Basilicata  is  of  diverse  temperament  from  the  im 
migrant  of  Calabria  and  Sicily.  The  mountains  of 
the  Basilicata  furnished  a  permanent  emigration  to 
the  United  States  a  half  century  ago,  while  in  cer 
tain  coast  areas  emigration  is  still  in  its  first  stages. 
The  hill  sections  of  that  province  and  of  Calabria 
then  became  involved,  the  province  of  Palermo  only 
in  Sicily,  and  a  section  of  Italy,  beginning  in  the 
Naples  plain  and  extending  eastward  through  Bene- 
ventp,  Avellino  and  the  Molise,  was  contributing  a 
considerable  immigration  before  1900,  to  be  fol 
lowed  afterwards  by  the  remainder  of  Sicily  and  the 
Abruzzi.23 

21  Foerster,  pp.  330,  343. 

22  Warner,  Nat'l  Gcog.  Mag.,  Vol.  20,  p.  1062. 

23  Foerster,  pp.  102-104. 


THE  BACKGROUND  IN  ITALY  29 

Outlook  for  future  emigration  to  United  States. — 

What  is  the  outlook  for  future  emigration  to  the 
United  States?  Emigration  during  these  post-war 
years  has  consisted  largely  of  Italian  reservists  re 
turning  to  the  United  States  or  of  members  of  fami 
lies  of  those  already  here.  Emigration  from  all 
classes  is  held  in  check  by  political  travel  factors, 
and  by  coming  into  force  of  the  literacy  test  and 
the  three  per  cent  law.  The  contemporary  economic 
conditions  in  Italy  are  very  bad,  and  the  old  evil 
general  conditions  remain  and  can  only  very  gradu 
ally  be  bettered.  Population  has  not  decreased  in 
Italy  but  increased  during  the  war  and  in  compari 
son  with  other  European  countries,  the  man-power 
of  Italy  was  very  little  damaged  during  the  war. 
Workers  then  are  the  only  large  asset  Italy  has  to 
exchange  for  the  capital  absolutely  essential  to  her 
recovery  and  development.  Europe  close  at  hand 
will  make  a  strong  bid  for  these  workers.  With  her 
need  for  manual  laborers  every  day  more  apparent, 
it  would  seem  that  the  United  States  will  also  make 
her  bid.  And  if,  despite  this,  the  literacy  test  be 
continued,  it  is  probable  that  steps  will  be  taken  in 
Italy  to  prepare  candidates  to  meet  it.  As  for  the 
thought  of  the  population  in  the  mind  of  all  classes, 
the  United  States,  due  to  the  tangible  services  of 
her  government,  the  Eed  Cross,  and  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
during  the  war  has  become  far  better  known  and 
popular  than  ever  before.  The  expression  on  many 
tongues  to  visitors  from  the  United  States  is: 
"Beati  voi  che  siete  in  America" — " Lucky  people 
you  are  to  be  in  America."  Whole  sections  of  the 
population  would  pull  up  stakes  and  come  here  in 
a  body  if  they  could. 


SO  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

Part  IV 

SOCIAL,   CONDITIONS 

We  are  now  to  review  the  social  conditions  in 
Italy  since  its  union  and  more  particularly  of  those 
which  have  been  the  emigration  classes. 

Social  classes. — Socially,  as  politically,  the  Ital 
ians  are  a  modern  people  emerging  from  a  back 
ward  past.  Ancient  usage  and  modern  science  are 
seen  side  by  side,  depth  of  ignorance  and  scholar 
ship.  The  contrasts  are  great.  Kecently  an  Italian 
lady  of  gentle  breeding  come  to  America  remarked 
upon  the  fact  that  her  host  introduced  her  to  his 
butcher  as  one  of  his  familiar  friends.  Such  a  thing 
could  never  happen  in  Italy  where  classes  are  fixed. 
A  man  of  another  class  is  either  a  superior  or  an 
inferior.  During  the  Great  War  the  excellent  rela 
tionship  of  officers  and  men  in  the  Italian  army  was 
not  the  relationship  of  equals  submitting  to  disci 
pline  in  a  common  task  as  in  the  American  Army, 
but  at  its  best  the  paternal  relation,  of  a  father  who 
leads  and  encourages,  of  sons  who  follow  and  obey. 
There  is  the  aristocracy  of  birth  or  achievement, 
the  upper  middle  class  of  professionals,  officials, 
officers,  and  students,  the  lower  middle  class  of 
"  artisans "  who  are  of  the  trades  and  the  laborers, 
in  the  country  called  contadini.  In  the  south  there 
is  no  middle  class,  there  are  the  proprietors,  called 
signori  and  the  peasants  or  contadini — in  the  Nea 
politan  dialect,  cafoni. 

Influence  of  great  landowners. — The  influence  of 
the  aristocracy  upon  the  life  of  the  country  districts 
through  the  common  absenteeism  has  been  an  evil 
one.  However  there  have  been  exceptions  where  the 
great  lords  have  exercised  almost  the  medieval 
paternal  relation  to  their  contadini  as  in  certain 


THE  BACKGROUND  IN  ITALY  SI 

parts  of  Calabria.24  Changes  in  social  conditions 
have  come  rather  through  the  government  which  is 
centralized  in  a  thorough  way.  Largely  initiative 
has  lain  with  the  central  government  which  then  in 
spires  or  operates  through  the  provincial  capitals 
and  so  down  to  the  communes.  For  example  the 
local  sindaco,  or  mayor,  while  elected  by  the  people 
is  removable  by  the  national  government  for  cause. 

Suffrage. — Not  until  1911  did  universal  manhood 
suffrage,  previously  limited  by  property  or  degree  of 
culture,  come  into  being.  In  the  south  it  doubled, 
tripled  and  in  some  places  quadrupled  the  number  of 
voters.25  This  was  possible  only  through  the  decline 
of  illiteracy.  The  growing  literacy  of  the  population 
has  perhaps  been  the  greatest  social  factor,  causing 
healthy  discontent,  progress  and  spirit  of  enterprise, 
leading  to  emigration. 

Illiteracy. — In  1911  37.6  per  cent  of  the  popula 
tion  of  Italy  over  6  years  of  age  were  illiterate;  in 
the  Abruzzi,  Sicily,  Basilicata  and  Calabria  the  per 
centages  were  respectively  58,  58,  65  and  70.26  In 
1901  there  were  18,186,353  illiterates  according  to 
census ;  in  1917  Prof.  Mangano  reported  an  estimate 
of  7,000,000.27  Hence  we  see  why,  even  to-day,  al 
though  it  is  a  steadily  increasing  proportion,  only  60 
per  cent  of  Italian  immigrants  could  be  admitted  to 
the  United  States  under  the  literacy  law.28 

Elementary  education. — The  reduction  of  illiter 
acy  has  been  substantial.  What  has  been  done  and 
what  has  not  been  done  is  an  index  of  what  the 
elementary  schools,  consisting  of  six  grades,  have 
been  and  have  not  been  in  this  emigration  period. 
United  Italy  adopted  a  system  of  national  educa- 

24  Bagot,  My  Italian  Tear,  p.  277. 

25  Annuario  Statistico  Italiano,  1912,  p.  74. 

26  Censimento,  111,  p.  230,  quoted  Foerster,  p.  515  note. 

27  Sons  of  Italy,  p.  59. 

28  Clarke,  Our  Italian  Fellow  Citizens,  p.  164. 


32  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

tion  but  left  it  to  local  provision  and  control.  And 
towards  it  under  the  feudal  ideas  and  ideals  obtain 
ing,  the  rural  communes  and  their  administration 
were  often,  in  the  earlier  years,  either  hostile  or  in 
different.  Further  legislation  has  compelled  these 
to  be  active,  and  would  enforce  attendance  at  school 
and  prevent  the  employment  of  children  under  fif 
teen  in  factories.  But  local  sentiment  often  allows 
these  provisions  to  be  nullified  to  a  great  degree. 
Also  elementary  education,  as  in  some  other  coun 
tries,  receives  a  niggardly  proportion  of  public 
finances.  Schools  are  not  enough  in  number  or  suf 
ficiently  manned  for  the  huge  numbers  of  young 
Italy.  The  school  buildings  are  often  ill-adapted  and 
ill-equipped  dwelling  houses  or  suppressed  convents. 
"The  great  majority  of  the  teachers  are  high- 
minded  men  and  women,  who,  poor,  and  over 
worked,  make  a  noble  effort  to  inform  and  moralize 
their  truant  scholars.  ...  If  one  may  judge  from 
inspectors'  reports,  arithmetic  is  the  only  subject 
taught  at  all  well  in  the  average  school.  A  great 
deat  of  time  is  necessarily  occupied  in  teaching  good 
Italian  to  children  who  only  speak  their  own  dialect, 
and  to  whom  the  literary  tongue  is  almost  a  foreign 
language.  The  quality  of  the  writing  may  be  judged 
from  the  fact  that  'calligraphy'  is  a  separate  sub 
ject  only  taught  in  the  upper  standards.  After  the 
elementary  subjects,  and  a  smattering  of  natural 
science  taught  incidentally  with  them,  the  acquire 
ments  of  the  rural  scholar  stop  short."29 

Education  in  morals. — Anything  of  a  dogmatic 
bias  is  carefully  excluded  from  the  school  in  theory. 
But  various  authorities  testify  to  the  excellence  of 
the  moral  teaching.  An  inspection  of  reading  books 
reveals  how  skillfully  this  is  worked  out  in  reading 
material  which  deals  with  the  pupil's  daily  life  and 

29  Clarke,  Our  Italian  Fellow  Citizens,  p.  162,  quotation  from, 
unstated  source,  careful,  but  not  unprejudiced. 


A  PUBMC  IvAUNDRV  BASIN 


PRIMITIVE  IRRIGATING  PI,ANT 


Le  Monvjso  e  Granero  dalle  Travereette,  metri  3845 


'  THK  COTTIAN  AT.PS 


BOUNOAPY BET.  FRANCE &/TALY 

RAIL  WA  YS  ' 


MAP  OF  THR  VAUDOIS 


THE  BACKGROUND  IN  ITALY  33 

surroundings.  Evidently  educational  authorities 
are  more  and  more  awake  to  their  opportunity,  but 
greatly  hindered  by  lack  of  means. 

Above  the  elementary  school  is  the  ginnasio 
with  a  five  year  course  corresponding  in  part  to  our 
high  school,  and  in  turn  above  this  is  the  liceo 
with  a  three  year  course.  At  the  top  of  the  educa 
tional  scale  are  the  twenty-one  universities  of 
Italy. 

Further  movements. — A  movement  of  significance 
is  the  addition  of  agricultural  teaching  to  the  course 
of  the  elementary  schools  along  with  new  specialized 
schools,  or  courses  in  the  higher  schools,  in  the  sub 
ject. 

The  education  of  military  life. — The  compulsory 
military  service  affords  for  youths  of  the  lower 
classes  a  great  deal  of  instruction.  With  certain 
exceptions  all  who  reach  the  age  of  twenty  must 
serve  two  years,  and  formerly  three  years  in  the 
army  or  navy,  and  afterwards  fulfill  the  duties  of  a 
reservist.  Offering  a  pay  that  is  negligible,  this 
service  entails  a  large  sacrifice.  In  recent  years  the 
physical  training,  discipline,  character  of  service, 
opportunity  to  see  Italy  and  inducements  to  study, 
result  in  great  benefit  to  the  raw  youth  from  the 
country.  The  system  in  vogue  develops  his  pa 
triotism  without  at  all  leading  him  to  be  militaristic. 

A  northern  village.— Further  study  of  the  life  of 
rural  Italy  emptying  itself  in  emigration  best  takes 
the  form  of  the  description  of  a  composite  small 
town.  A  village  in  the  province  of  Alessandria, 
northern  Italy,  lies  alongside  of  an  irrigating  canal 
and  a  row  of  tall  poplars,  just  off  the  provincial  road 
that  Napoleon  caused  to  be  built.  It  has  sent  a  num 
ber  of  families  both  to  the  United  States  and  South 
America  within  a  generationJ^Laborers '  houses  of 
stone  and  stucco  are  crowded  close  together  around 
the  parish  church.  Many  families  live  on  the  second 


34  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

floor,  using  the  first  for  farm  produce,  wood,  ani 
mals,  or  poultry.  In  one  is  the  school,  in  another  the 
store,  which  is  the  local  government  agency  for  salt. 
There  is  a  cafe,  serving  coffee  and  drinks,  the  resort 
of  the  village.  The  most  pretentious  of  the  houses 
is  the  municipio  or  city  hall,  housing  the  post  office, 
offices  of  the  government  and  quarters  of  the  cara- 
binieri,  or  national  police. 

A  small  fraction  of  this  population  only  lives  at 
the  center;  the  rest  live  in  the  caserne  or  farm 
houses  half  concealed  in  the  hedge-rows,  vineyard- 
orchards,  and  fields  dotted  with  mulberry  trees 
which  serve  the  silkworm  industry.  These  cas- 
cine  consist  of  a  combination  stone  house,  barn 
and  fodder  loft  with  farmyard,  chicken-coop,  and 
outdoor  ovenp\Traffic  converges  in  the  large  town 
at  no  great  distance,  which  is  at  once  a  trading  and 
distributing,  banking  and  administrative,  and  to  a 
degree  industrial  and  railroad  center,  plus  the  insti 
tutions  which  flourish  in  a  larger  center  of  popula 
tion. 

A  southern  town. — In  sketching  a  composite  town 
in  the  Meridionale,  I  have  in  mind  specific  towns  and 
villages  in  each  of  the  great  emigration  producing 
provinces.  In  the  south  there  are  no  farmhouses 
nor  living  upon  the  farms.  All  live  in  towns,  a  habit 
due  to  Italian  gregariousness  and  the  need  of  pro 
tection  from  tyrant  and  bandit,  existing  not  so  very 
long  ago.  The  town  is  located  upon  the  summit  or 
spur  of  the  hill,  and  at  a  distance  the  tiers  of  houses 
often  give  the  impression  of  a  settlement  of  cliff- 
dwellers.  However  it  will  have  thousands  of  popu 
lation  where  one  would  guess  hundreds.  To  it, 
through  fields  and  terraces  sprinkled  with  olive  trees 
and  vines,  many  irregular  foot  paths  ascend,  and  in 
this  modern  day  one  fine  road,  which  allows  automo 
bile  mail  and  passenger  service  from  the  distant 
station.  These  necessarily  serpentine  highways 


THE  BACKGROUND  IN  ITALY  35 

have  been  constructed  with  infinite  labor  during  the 
last  decades,  but  have  put  thousands  of  isolated 
towns  with  a  large  total  of  population  into  touch 
with  the  outside  world.  This  road  becomes  the 
winding  main  street  of  the  town  from  which  branch 
off  many  rocky  lanes,  mostly  impassable  for  car 
riages. 

The  piazza.  It  ends  in  the  piazza  or  square,  a 
large  space,  usually  well  paved,  and  clean,  with 
benches  and  perhaps  a  fountain  and  stubby  pepper- 
trees  for  shade.  Opening  upon  it  are  the  institu 
tions,  like  those  of  the  northern  Italian  village,  with 
the  " opera  house"  (if  there  is  one),  a  church  and 
a  primitive  hotel.  Sometimes  the  "mother  church" 
is  at  the  top  of  the  town  along  with  the  remains  of 
the  mediaeval  castle.  Nearby  is  the  school,  a  maca 
roni  factory,  and  most  probably  a  convent.  At  the 
tail  of  the  village  is  the  village  fountain,  the  com 
mon  source  for  water,  and  the  washing  vats  if  a 
brook  is  not  handy  by.  In  times  of  epidemic  the 
government  enforces  drastic  measures  upon  an  igno 
rant  population  with  regard  to  this  fountain. 

The  houses. — The  houses  are  of  weather-worn 
stone  or  stucco  with  few  windows.  Those  of  the 
poor  have  one  room,  paved  with  dirty  flags,  the  walls 
well  smoked  from  the  fire-place.  There  are  a  few 
rude  pieces  of  furniture,  mostly  chests,  besides  an 
enormous  bed,  clean,  comfortable,  embroidered,  the 
housewife's  pride.  In  these  modern  days  a  Singer 
sewing  machine  may  be  seen.  The  small  folks  sleep 
in  a  trundle  bed,  but  the  rest  of  the  family  sleep  in 
the  loft  above.  The  donkey  is  stabled  in  the  cellar 
below.  Families  better-to-do  have  more  rooms  per 
haps  opening  out  on  a  yard  or  court.  In  such  a  town 
a  landslip  is  more  to  be  feared  than  fire.  Drainage 
is  into  the  gutter  and  toilet  facilities  for  the  most 
part  are  lacking. 
'  The  people. — The  streets  of  the  more  remote  vil- 


36  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

lages  give  one  the  impression  of  chicken  runs.  Life 
is  at  the  door,  with  babies,  pigs,  chickens  and  house 
hold  operations  indescribably  mingled;  life  of  the 
more  public  sort  goes  on  in  the  piazza  or  cafes  sur 
rounding  it.  Costumes,  except  in  isolated  villages, 
or  upon  special  occasions,  are  a  nondescript,  modern 
home-made.  However  the  kerchief  or  cut  of  a  wom 
an's  bodice,  the  man's  shawl  or  stocking  cap  will 
reveal  to  the  initiated  the  region  and  perhaps  the 
village  from  which  the  person  comes.  In  the  piazza 
of  an  evening  are  to  be  seen  the  proprietor  or  his 
factor,  the  parish  priest,  the  mayor,  village  doctor, 
the  twin  carabinieri  in  picturesque  uniform,  repre 
sentatives  of  a  service  that  has  done  much  to  unify 
and  civilize  rural  Italy,  a  driver  and  carriage  await 
ing  custom,  a  few  soldiers  stationed  in  the  village 
or  home  on  furloughs,  knots  of  contadini  or  shep 
herds,  playing  children,  and  here  and  there  a  woman, 
going  swiftly  on  an  errand. 

In  the  busy  season  the  laborers  are  off  long  be 
fore  day  to  the  mountain  to  gather  fuel,  to  the  fields 
often  at  great  distance,  or  with  the  flocks  of  sheep 
and  goats.  At  the  season's  height  they  may  not  re 
turn  till  Saturday  evening,  remaining  at  night  in  the 
stone  shed  or  some  grotto. 

Public  standards. — Such  a  village  will  have  very 
well-defined  standards  of  morality  and  conduct,  and 
customs  quite  different  from  those  of  another  prov 
ince  or  even  from  those  of  its  nearest  neighbor.  Its 
inhabitants  will  distrust  strangers,  but  public  opin 
ion  is  ruthless  towards  its  own  members  who  violate 
accepted  ideals. 

Family  ties  (and  sponsors  at  baptism  are  consid 
ered  as  of  the  family)  are  exceedingly  strong.  The 
husband,  and  even  more  the  grandfather,  is  lord  in 
the  family,  and  jealously  guards  it  from  invasion.. 
Divorce  is  unknown.  Children  are  welcomed,  and 
six  of  them  is  a  moderate  family.  Infant  mortality 


THE  BACKGROUND  IN  ITALY  37 

is  high.  Marriages  are  arranged.  Daughters  marry 
early,  in  succession  and  furnished  with  a  dowry. 
If  of  a  peasant  family,  all  but  the  house  mother  work 
in  the  fields.  Life  is  frugal  and  temperate,  industry 
is  great,  savings  are  put  by  if  it  be  in  any  way  pos 
sible.  The  laziness  of  the  Italian  peasant  is  a  myth 
due  to  his  evident  ability  to  rest  in  moments  of 
leisure. 

Moral  values  in  north  and  south. — The  southern 
Italian  suffers  in  comparison  with  the  northern,  be 
cause  of  difference  in  racial  characteristics  and  de 
velopment.  The  northern  Italian  has  more  initia 
tive,  willingness  to  cooperate,  organizing  ability.  He 
has  also  the  vices  of  greater  development,  he  is 
more  sordid,  more  of  a  scoffer,  more  intemperate, 
and  a  more  expert  exploiter  than  the  southerner. 
The  southerner  has  the  vices  and  virtues  of  a  primi 
tive  people,  gusty  passions  both  of  sex  and  temper, 
but  vindictive  only  in  certain  provinces.  There  is  no 
greater  individualist  than  he,  but  he  is  shrewd,  gen 
erous,  hospitable,  tractable,  temperate,  capable  of 
great  devotion,  strong  of  body  although  often  de 
formed  by  his  excessive  labor. 

The  Mafia. — In  America,  the  Sicilian  holds  the 
most  evil  reputation  of  all  Italian  immigrants,  be 
cause  of  the  acts  of  the  Black  Hand.    By  nature,  the 
Sicilian  is  among  the  most  virile  and  independent  of   , 
them  all.    But  he  has  been,  until  late,  the  most  sup-  ' 
pressed  and  oppressed  of  them  all,  and  that  often  / 
under  the  cloak  of  law.     The  result  is  the  Mafia, 
a  society  operating  in  secret,  which  by  a  strange, 
unwritten  code  of  honor  carries  out  with  hot  pas 
sion  and  savagery  a  system  of  "  justice "(?)  wholly 
outside  the  law.    An  expert,  Baron  Franchetti,  says 
of  it — "The  Mafia  is  a  union  of  persons  belonging 
to  every  grade,  to  every  profession,  to  every  cate 
gory,  who,  without  possessing  any  apparent,  con 
tinuous  or  regular  tie  in  common,  are  nevertheless 


38  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

always  united  for  the  furtherance  of  their  reciprocal 
interests. 

'  '  With  every  consideration  of  law,  justice,  and  pub 
lic  morals  set  aside,  it  is  the  mediaeval  sentiment  of 
the  individual  who  thinks  that  he  himself  can  pro 
vide  for  the  care  and  for  the  safety  of  his  own  per 
son  and  of  his  possessions,  by  reason  of  his  personal 
worth  and  influence,  quite  apart  from  any  action  of 
the  authorities  or  of  the  laws/7  Such  is  the  danger 
ous  perversion  of  a  fine  racial  quality.  Quite  aside 
from  their  backwardness,  one  is  compelled  to  admire 
the  stalwart  qualities  of  the  inhabitants  of  those 
provinces  of  Sicily  where  the  Mafia  is  less  prevalent, 
as  fine  stuff  on  which  to  build.  Indeed  their  natural 
power  has  furnished  a  very  large  proportion  of  the 
public  men  who  have  conducted  the  affairs  of  United 
Italy. 

Nationalism. — Each  town  in  Italy  has  one  or  more 
streets  named  after  the  great  men  or  events  of  the 
period  of  the  union  of  Italy,  preeminently  after 
Garibaldi.  The  spirit  of  nationalism  is  fostered  by 
the  public  schools,  by  the  youths  who  return  from 
military  service,  or  from  America,  and  by  the  higher 
element  of  the  village;  also  by  the  newspapers,  in 
which,  in  Italy,  the  editorial  surpasses  the  news  ele 
ment.  The  population  which  thinks  far  enough 
afield  is  devoted  to  Italy,  although  it  may  be  opposed 
to  the  government  in  power.  Former  wars  have 
done  something  to  consolidate  national  opinion.  If 
at  first  Italy  failed  to  appreciate  the  abstract,  inter 
national  ideals  with  which  the  upper  classes  thrust 
the  country  into  the  war,  she  was  later  quite  able  to 
appreciate  the  menace  of  the  hated,  invading  Aus 
trian. 

"CampaniHsm." — Scenes  were  frequently  to  be 
witnessed  at  rural  stations  of  peasant  soldiers 
returning  to  the  front  who  were  obliged  to  thrust 
shrieking,  moaning  wives  or  mothers  behind  them 


THE  BACKGROUND  IN  ITALY  39 

as  the  train  moved  out.  What  did  these  peasant 
women  know  of  the  great  struggle  to  down  German 
militarism  or  even  comprehend  the  desire  of  Italy  to 
free  the  irredente  provinces?  Their  interests  were 
limited  literally  by  their  sky  line.  So  indeed  it  has 
been  in  this  emigration  period  that  the  spirit  of 
campanilismo,  the  spirit  of  dwelling  under  one's 
own  church  tower,  has  been  the  typical  spirit  of  the 
peasantry  and  of  others.  Local  interest  was  apt  to 
occupy  the  whole  horizon.  The  man  even  from  the 
next  town  was  a  foreigner.  Of  cooperation  there 
was  little,  support  of  the  government  enterprises 
was  small.  It  has  been  justly  said  that  campanil 
ismo^  pulverizes  political  competence. 

Dialects. — This  state  of  affairs  is  due  in  no  small 
degree  to  the  prevalence  of  dialects.  Some  cities  and 
each  great  province  of  Italy  has  its  own  dialect,  a 
refined  edition  of  which  is  often  commonly  used  by 
the  upper  classes.  National  Italian  is  best  when  it 
is  in  "the  Tuscan  language  in  the  Eoman  mouth," 
for  the  dialects  of  Milan,  Bologna,  Naples,  and  Sicily 
are  utterly  different  from  it  and  each  other.  Not 
only  does  this  provincial  diversity  hold  true  but  in 
very  many  districts  the  inhabitants  of  towns  and 
villages  within  sight  of  one  another  vary  widely  in 
their  language  and  customs. 

Defective  public  opinion. — If  there  is  individual 
ism  at  the  bottom  of  the  social  scale,  there  is  also 
at  the  top.  The  result  is  the  criticism  that  "an  im 
portant  factor  in  national  life  is  still  comparatively 
lacking  in  Italy — and  this  is  public  opinion  .  .  . 
dormant  .  .  .  partly  for  want  of  definite  guidance, 
and  partly  because  it  possesses  no  real  means  of  co 
hesion  and  expression. ' ' 30  There  are  no  great  politi 
cal  parties  in  Italy  in  the  American  sense,  but  until 
recently,  merely  ever-changing  alliances  of  the  most 
similar  of  a  thousand  shades  of  opinion.  This  has 

30  Bagot,  My  Italian  Year,  pp.  328,  329. 


40  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

militated  against  the  building  up  of  many  great 
newspapers,  as  organs  of  the  people's  thought. 
However  under  the  stress  of  the  war,  these  condi 
tions  have  been  rapidly  changing  and  improving. 

Socialism. — Many  Italians  who  come  to  America 
are  socialists.  They  come  chiefly  from  among  the 
northern  Italians,  but  are  also  to  be  found  more  and 
more  among  immigrants  from  the  Meridionale,  due 
to  the  great  growth  of  that  belief  in  the  south.  The 
strength  of  the  party  is  due  to  dissatisfaction  with 
the  slowness  and  inefficiency  with  which  reforms 
benefiting  the  lower  classes  are  carried  out,  and  on 
the  other  hand  to  the  growth  of  great  numbers  of 
workmen  and  contadini  to  that  point  where  social 
istic  propaganda  is  understood  and  read  by  them. 
Following  on  the  after-war  reaction  from  the  gov 
ernment  of  the  higher  ranks  during  the  war,  they 
came  into  parliament  in  great  force  and  were,  in 
deed,  for  a  term  of  months  in  power  in  the  govern 
ment. 

Operation  of  post-war  public  opinion. — An  Ital 
ian  very  significantly  has  noted  the  change  and 
growth  in  public  opinion  in  an  estimate  of  the  so- 
called  "Fascisti,"  saying  in  substance:  "The  Italian 
government  is  really  only  an  administrative  organ 
ism  to  run  the  departments  of  public  service,  and 
the  public  at  large  looks  upon  it  with  suspicion  if 
not  with  hostility  as  representative  of  the  interests 
of  patronage.  The  Italian  people  does  not  look  to 
its  government  for  civic  leadership :  it  is  frequently 
up  in  arms  upon  one  issue  or  another  while  the 
government  stands  by  as  an  idle  spectator.  Ameri 
cans  think  that  a  revolution  is  brewing.  Patriots 
seize  Fiume,  workers  seize  the  factories,  then  sud 
denly,  in  a  day  or  two,  a  week  or  two,  everything  is 
over.  The  revolution  has  not  come  off.  The  fact  is 
that  in  every  such  case  a  great  battle  has  been  fought 
in  Italian  public  opinion,  and  when  each  side  has 


THE  BACKGROUND  IN  ITALY  41 

shown  its  hand,  demonstrated  its  power,  the  weaker 
side  submits. 

"The  surprising  weakness  of  socialist  morale  in 
the  face  of  a  determined  onslaught  from  their  op 
ponents  has  virtually  terminated  the  arrogance  and 
insolence  with  which  they  had  been  for  three  years 
trampling  the  rights  of  the  public  under  foot. 

"Socialism  has  not  been  exterminated  or  even  re 
duced  in  economic  strength.  ...  A  great  battle  in 
public  opinion  has  been  fought  outside  of  the  gov 
ernment,  and  the  battle  has  decided  that  communism 
in  Italy  is  too  weak  in  numbers  and  morale  to  cause 
any  serious  concern,  while  socialism  to  have  any 
standing  at  all  must  continue  as  a  party  of  progres 
sive  criticism  which  its  saner  elements  have  all  along 
constituted." — Giuseppe  Prezzolino,  The  Fascisti, 
in  the  Century  Magazine,  September,  1921. 

Part  V 

RELIGIOUS   CONDITIONS   IN   ITALY 

The  Reformation  in  Italy. — More  than  is  gener 
ally  known  the  Protestant  Reformation  had  strong 
adherents  in  Italy.  Prof.  Giovanni  Luzzi  said  of  it : 
"It  began  in  literary  circles  and  academies;  gripped 
the  most  noted  men  famous  for  their  doctrine,  in 
fluence  and  descent;  found  its  way  into  the  Italian 
Courts,  and  thence  descended  to  the  army  and  among 
the  people.  Not  a  corner  could  be  found  in  the  pen 
insula  where  the  Reformation  had  not  its  prose 
lytes."31  The  circumstantial  reasons  for  its  vio 
lent  death  after  half  a  century,  were  the  flame  and 
sword  of  popes,  the  church  councils,  the  Jesuits,  and 
the  Inquisition.  In  answer  to  the  question,  "Why 
did  such  a  spontaneous  movement  not  spread,  with 
fruits  and  results  as  in  other  countries'?"  the  follow- 

31  Luzzi,  The  Struggle  for  Christian  Truth  in  Italy,  p.  82. 


42  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

ing  reasons  are  offered:32  the  Eenaissance  under 
mined  religious  sentiment  by  doubt  and  indifference, 
and  revived  paganism;  the  institution  of  the  papacy 
killed  faith,  leaving  only  pompous  rite  and  ceremony ; 
as  the  only  spiritual  and  moral  unity  of  the  penin 
sula,  the  papacy  continued  to  flatter  the  racial  con 
ceit  of  the  people;  on  a  lower  level,  self-interest 
was  pleased  to  continue  the  inflow  to  Italy  of  the 
wealth  attracted  by  the  papacy;  and  finally  the  re 
form  began  in  high  places,  not  among  the  masses, 
and  did  not  grip  the  people. 

A  heritage  of  irreligion. — The  failure  of  the  Eef- 
ormation  brought  about  the  political  and  religious 
submergence  of  Italy,  and  the  monstrosity  of  the 
Vatican  as  it  is  to-day.  It  has  led  to  the  oft-repeated 
charge  that  the  Italians  are  a  people  without  essen 
tial  religion.  One  has  put  it  in  the  words :  l '  Italy  is 
divided  into  unbelievers  and  lukewann  believers. "  33 
"The  hurricane  of  the  French  Eevolution  carried 
away  from  the  mind  of  even  the  best  that  small 
remnant  of  religion  which  they  no  longer  possessed 
in  their  hearts.  "3* 

During  the  years  that  the  unity  of  Italy  was  com 
ing  into  being,  the  popes  were  almost  continually 
in  violent  reaction  to  it.  The  20th  of  September, — 
anniversary  dearest  to  Italian  hearts, — continually 
recalls  the  entrance  of  the  army  of  United  Italy  into 
Borne,  compelled  to  fight  papal  soldiers.  The  result 
is  that  to  the  greater  portion  of  the  population  re 
ligion,  confounded  with  ecclesiasticism,  is  odious.  It 
accounts  also  for  the  fact  that  a  million  persons 
stated  themselves  in  the  census  of  1915  as  without 
religion.35 

32  Ibid.,  pp.  88-97. 

34  Ferdinand  Martini,  quoted  by  Sartorio,  Religion  of  the 
Italians,  p.  75. 

34  Luzzi,  p.  190. 

35  Annuario  Statistico  Italiano,  1915. 


THE  BACKGROUND  IN  ITALY  43 

Population  divided  religiously. — However,  since 
the  numerical  force  of  the  Protestants  and  other 
bodies  is  negligible,  the  forty  millions  of  people  in 
Italy  are  to  be  considered  nominally  Eoman  Catho 
lic.  Keligiously  the  population  has  been  divided  into 
three  classes:  1.  The  devout  Eoman  Catholics,  the 
majority  of  whom  consist  of  peasants,  largely  illiter 
ate,  plus  the  decreasing  " black  aristocracy/'  or 
noblemen  who  give  themselves  to  an  ecclesiastical 
career,  and  the  clergy.  2.  A  smaller  number  of  free 
thinkers,  agnostics,  atheists,  and  materialists,  for 
the  most  part  workingmen  in  large  cities  and  pro 
fessional  men.  3.  The  millions,  apparently  indiffer 
ent  who  go  through  life  without  religious  feeling  or 
spiritual  experience.  Such  a  summary  recalls  to 
mind  the  description  of  Mazzini,  himself  the  heart 
and  conscience  of  the  struggle  for  Italian  unity: 
"We  have  dragged  ourselves  along  in  abjectness 
and  impotence,  between  the  superstition  imposed 
upon  us  by  habit,  or  by  our  governors,  and  in 
credulity.'' 36 

There  is  no  aspect  of  Italian  life  which  reveals 
more  than  the  religious,  that  vortex  of  motive  and 
counter-motive  which  renders  the  Italian  character 
so  difficult  of  understanding  by  Anglo-Saxons. 

Complexity  of  Italian  character  as  seen  in  re 
ligion. — "Religion  survives  in  a  dilettante  way: 
first  through  pride  in  the  accident  of  Rome 's  hegem 
ony  of  a  once  powerful  sect,  next  through  an  inno 
cent  pleasure  in  glittering  altars  and  pretty  proces 
sions.  But  the  crowd's  attitude  is  formal  or  pa 
tronizing  rather  than  reverent.  All  hats  are  doffed 
at  the  passage  of  the  image,  but  that  does  not  ex 
clude  the  laughing  chatter.  The  churches  are  fairly 
well  filled  by  a  large  percentage  of  women.  ...  In 
the  south  at  least  there  is  a  serious,  sometimes 

36  Quoted,  Sartorio,  p.  96. 


44  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

fanatical  attachment  to  the  Eoman  creed.  .  .  .  The 
whole  people  will  always  support  the  state  when  it 
comes  in  conflict  with  the  church.  .  .  .  All  of  which 
enforce  my  argument  that  there  is  a  subtlety  in 
Italian  simplicity,  a  shrewd  side  to  every  Italian 
deal.  Sharp  wits  amount  to  intuitions. ' ' 37 

Attitude  of  the  peasant. — Kecently  many  of  the 
peasants  have  become  antireligious  socialists,  and 
their  last  condition  is  worse  than  their  first,  "any 
thing  but  desirable  elements  of  a  state."  38  The  atti 
tude  of  the  average  Italian  peasant  to  the  church  is 
as  follows:  He  is  "superstitious  up  to  a  certain 
point — but  only  up  to  the  point  where  superstition 
does  not  clash  with  his  own  interests  ...  an  exam 
ple  of  the  marvelous  power  of  Latin  Catholicism 
...  in  dealing  with  the  complex  mental  attitude  of 
the  Italian  peasant  classes  .  .  .  the  Italian  peasant 
has  a  vein  of  the  most  profound  skepticism  running 
through  his  nature.  It  is  not  a  question  of  how 
much,  but  how  little  he  believes  in  anything  at  all, 
except  possibly  in  a  Supreme  Being."  There  are 
those  who  point  to  the  enthusiasm  of  the  peasants 
for  their  religious  processions,  their  devout  attend 
ance  at  mass,  and  their  determination  to  uphold  cer 
tain  observances  and  practices.  ...  In  my  own  dis 
trict,  as  in  countless  others  in  Italy,  the  peasant  will 
sometimes  pay  several  francs  for  the  honor  of  a 
prominent  place  in  one  of  the  processions  in  honor 
of  the  Madonna;  and  if  they  cannot  pay  in  money 
they  will  pay  in  kind,  sending  to  the  priest  chickens, 
grain  and  wine.  .  .  .  The  very  peasant  who  is  vic 
timized  does  not  hesitate  to  express  the  most  pro 
found  skepticism  and  even  contempt  for  miraculous 
Madonnas,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  priestly  myths :  oc 
casionally,  but  very  rarely,  I  have  met  with  a  simple 
faith  that  was  evidently  genuine. ' ' 

37  Herbert  Vivian,  Fortnightly  Review,  Vol.  104,  p.  556. 

38  Bagot,  The  Italians  of  To-day,  p.  67. 


THE  BACKGROUND  IN  ITALY  45 

The  church  a  business. — The  peasant  is  part  of  a 
community  which  for  generations  has  centered 
around  the  parish  church.  He  knows  the  advan 
tages  which  must  accrue  to  him  by  supporting  the 
local  sanctuary  and  the  particular  attractions  which 
that  sanctuary  may  possess.  In  the  first  place,  it  is 
largely  to  his  interest  to  keep  in  with  the  parish 
priest,  who  is  very  often  a  peasant  like  himself.  As 
likely  as  not  he  will  give  vent  to  language  of  a  wholly 
irreligious  kind  when  he  is  called  upon  to  contribute 
of  his  hard-earned  money  to  the  glory  of  the  local 
Madonna,  and  he  cherishes  no  sort  of  illusion  as  to 
where  that  money  eventually  finds  its  way.  But  he 
would  be  roused  to  fury  were  the  local  Madonna  to 
be  held  up  to  ignominy  as  a  painted  fraud.  Such 
exposure  would  be  bad  for  trade.  The  power  which 
had  attracted  the  country  folk  from  far  and  near 
to  the  little  village  or  town  would  have  departed  and 
with  it  would  disappear  the  frequent  pilgrimages 
during  which  many  an  opportunity  for  doing  busi 
ness  had  presented  itself.  ...  I  doubt  not  that  with 
all  his  skepticism  and  notwithstanding  his  more  ma 
terial  object  in  supporting  the  superstitions  of  his 
native  place,  at  the  back  of  the  peasant's  mind  there 
ever  lurks  a  dim  fear  lest,  after  all,  things  might 
turn  out  to  be  as  the  priest  pretended;  and  that,  in 
this  case,  it  would  be  as  well  to  have  something  to 
the  credit  side  in  the  Almighty's  ledger.39 

The  upper  classes  share  with  the  lower  this  pride 
in  the  church.  The  influence  of  a  Protestant  mission 
in  a  Sicilian  provincial  capital  of  the  better  sort  was 
completely  ruined  because  its  pastor  issued  a  pam 
phlet  in  which  he  held  up  the  local  patron  saint  to 
ridicule,  and  he  was  compelled  to  depart  amid  the 
fury  of  the  population  and  the  pity  and  contempt 
of  the  society  of  the  town  for  his  tactlessness.  Many 

39  Bagot,  Italians  of  To-day,  pp.  44-46. 


46  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

upper  class  Italians,  even  to-day,  while  they  scorn 
the  Vatican  for  its  anti-nationalism,  are  yet  secretly 
proud  of  the  organized  Eoman  Catholic  Church  as 
the  unique  product  of  the  Italian  genius. 

Faith  of  the  rural  women. — Every  devout  family 
is  anxious  to  have  a  son  enter  the  priesthood.  It 
is  also  true  that  simple  faith  or  rather  deep  super 
stition  is  most  regnant  in  southern  Italy.  Of  church 
going  there  is  less  among  men,  but  the  women  are 
very  close  to  the  church.  And  although  priests  and 
friars  are  commonly  jeered  at,  and  for  cause,  an  able 
priest  may  clothe  himself  with  very  great  power. 
Not  many  years  ago  a  fanatic  population,  under  the 
direction  of  priests  hostile  to  the  government,  set 
upon  and  murdered  two  engineers  who  had  been  sent 
to  close  up  the  town  fountain,  source  of  an  epidemic 
in  the  neighborhood.  To  the  average  woman  the 
church  is  the  church  of  her  family  for  many  genera 
tions.  It  is  her  "club,"  to  which  she  may  retire 
from  her  sordid  home  and  hard  labor  for  space,\ 
quiet,  color,  amusement  of  a  sort,  perhaps  the  only^ 
sort.  Visions,  miracles,  images  of  saints,  madonnas 
and  adoration  of  relics  abound.  But  all  this,  the 
lights  of  the  candles,  even  the  mystery  of  the  unin 
telligible  mass,  fit  into  her  ignorant  nature,  unspir- 
itual,  unthinking  but  feeling  the  rudely  esthetic  side 
of  it  all.  During  the  eruption  of  Vesuvius  in  1906, 
the  populace  of  Naples  became  so  nervous  that  they 
forced  the  city  authorities  and  clergy  to  allow  them 
to  carry  in  procession  the  relics  of  their  patron  saint, 
Gennaro.  That  afternoon  the  wind  veered,  carrying 
the  ash  of  the  volcano  away  from  the  city.  Within 
two  hours  the  newspapers  came  out  in  special  edi 
tion;  in  great  headlines,  <lSan  Gennaro,  our  patron 
saint,  has  saved  the  city  again."  The  next  morning, 
at  the  market,  one  woman  of  the  lower  classes  was 
overheard  to  remark  to  her  companion,  "Well,  our 
saint  has  saved  us  again."  The  other  shot  back, 


THE  BACKGROUND  IN  ITALY  47 

"He'd  better  have.  It  would  have  been  worse  for 
him  if  he  hadn't. » 

Italians  deficient  in  religious  sentiment. — No  one 
takes  a  more  somber  view  of  religion  and  the  race 
than  some  Italians  themselves.  One  has  recently 
written,  "Italians,  the  most  gifted  with  vivacity  of 
wit  and  splendid  imagination,  are  the  poorest  and 
weakest  of  all  peoples,  religiously.  .  .  .  Indeed,  the 
ideals  of  religion,  of  moral  character,  of  duty  and 
the  like  are  only  secondary  features  in  the  soul  of 
the  Italian.  Conscience  has  a  very  limited  power 
over  him.  He  is  almost  incapable  of  voluntary  dis 
cipline  and  moral  austerity,  and  takes  life  at  its 
easiest,  satisfied  to  enjoy."  This  writer  adduces 
many  examples  of  this  deficiency  in  their  contempo 
rary  history,  literature,  art  and  thought,  and  notes 
the  difficulty  of  him  who  would  convert  such  a  race 
to  Protestantism.40  He  brings  to  our  attention  the 
significance  of  his  contention  that  it  is  the  race  that 
have  made  the  Koman  Catholic  Church,  while  noting 
that  the  lack  of  faith  on  the  part  of  the  Italians  evi 
dences  also  the  utter  spiritual  and  moral  inefficiency 
of  Koman  Catholicism  upon  the  national  life  of 
Italy.41 

Religious  assets:  Waldensians. — If  then  we  rec 
ognize  the  religious  bankruptcy  of  Italy  in  these 
modern  times,  what  assets  are  there  on  which  to 
build  in  the  future?  Besides  the  tradition  of  such 
superlative  religious  leaders  as  Saint  Francis, 
Savonarola,  or  men  of  such  religious  quality  as 
Dante  and  Mazzini,  there  are  currents  in  this  pres 
ent  generation  of  religious  life  in  Italy,  vigorous  and 
growing,  if  yet  small.  As  they  have  sprung  from 
Protestant  influence,  let  us  consider  first  the  Protes 
tant  movements.  The  Waldensian  Church,  deci- 


40  Capozzi,  Protestantism  and  the  Latin  Soul,  pp.  141-167. 

41  Capozzi,  Protestantism  and  the  Latin  Soul,  p.  162. 


48  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

mated  by  persecution  during  centuries  because  of 
the  unstained  purity  of  its  faith,  but  preserved  in 
the  Cottian  Alps  of  Piedmont,  until  this  modern 
day,  has  become  the  native  Protestant  Church  of 
Italy.  Upon  the  acquisition  of  civil  rights  in  1848, 
she  took  upon  herself  the  sacred  duty  of  the  evan 
gelization  of  Italy.  She  now  has  under  her  ad 
ministration  60  churches,  150  mission  stations,  68 
ministers,  10  evangelists  and  6  colporteurs.  There 
are  a  theological  seminary  with  three  regular  pro 
fessors,  two  high  schools  and  a  normal  school,  with 
twenty-one  professors,  and  thirteen  elementary 
schools  with  forty  teachers.42  There  is  an  evan 
gelistic  weekly  paper,  and  a  theological  review  has 
been  maintained  along  with  other  agencies  of  propa 
ganda. 

Other  Protestant  bodies. — As  the  fruit  of  an  evan 
gelical  movement  begun  in  Tuscany  during  the  years 
of  the  Union  of  Italy,  two  types  of  churches  other 
than  the  Waldensian  remain,  the  first  retaining  but 
two  churches,  the  second,  "the  Plymouth  Brethren 
type,"  has  churches  in  20  towns  and  68  smaller 
places.  The  Wesleyan  Methodist  Church  has  37 
churches  and  a  goodly  number  of  mission  stations 
maintained  by  a  corps  of  40  ministers.43  The 
American  Methodist  mission  in  Italy  has  76  pastors 
and  preachers;  it  also  has  a  press  and  organs  of 
propaganda,  theological,  secondary  and  industrial 
schools,  and  6  elementary  schools.44  Anglo-Italian 
Baptists  hold  56  churches  'and  stations  with  20  min 
isters.45  American-Italian  Baptists  have  32  or 
dained  Italian  pastors,  46  churches  and  70  out-sta 
tions,  a  theological  seminary  and  strong  publica 
tions.  Their  religious  review,  Bilychnis,  has  had 

42  Report  of  the  Moderator,  1920. 

43  Luzzi,  pp.  221,  222. 

44  Mangano,  Sons  of  Italy,  p.  90. 

45  Luzzi,  p.  223. 


THE  BACKGROUND  IN  ITALY  49 

large  success  and  is  very  influential  in  promoting 
religious  progress  in  Italy,  in  the  modernist  circle.46 

These  and  other  churches  are  united  in  a  recently 
formed  federation  of  evangelical  churches.  Other 
religious  organizations  are  the  Salvation  Army,  the 
British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  the  National 
Bible  Society  of  Scotland,  the  Keligious  Tract  So 
ciety  for  Italy,  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa 
tion,  the  Young  Women's  Christian  Association,  the 
Italian  Sunday  School  Union,  and  the  branch  of  the 
"World's  Student  Christian  Federation.47  There 
exists  the  Savonarola  Institute  for  converted  priests 
under  the  direction  of  an  interdenominational  board 
of  managers. 

Strength  of  Protestantism. — Statistics  which  by 
no  means  represent  the  actual  power  nor  influence 
for  good  of  the  Protestant  work  in  Italy  give  but 
small  numbers.  "  There  are  about  25,000  Protestant 
church  members,  a  majority  of  whom  are  in  the 
Waldensian  valleys,  about  200  church  organizations 
and  many  more  than  that  number  of  mission  sta 
tions." 48  Or,  as  summed  up  by  the  census,  there  are 
more  than  175,000  adherents  of  the  evangelical  faith 
in  Italy.  About  17,000  Sicilians  and  15,000  Apu- 
lians  call  themselves  Protestant.  In  the  years  1901- 
1911,  the  number  of  those  of  the  evangelical  faith 
increased  by  one  hundred  per  cent. 49  But  Italian 
Protestant  work  has  been  of  incalculable  value. 
First  of  all  it  is  significant  that,  where  at  one  time 
there  were  suspicion  and  persecution,  these  have  all 
but  ceased,  and  evangelicals  and  their  institutions 
are  well  received  by  the  population.  Public  opinion 
has  turned  in  their  favor.  Their  good  lives  and 
character  are  noted. 

46Mangano,  p.  88. 

47  Luzzi,  pp.  224,  225. 

48  Mangano,  p.  94. 

49  Annuario  Statistico  Italiano,  1915,  quoted  by  Sartorio. 


50  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

The  Bible  and  its  growing  power. — Many  Italian 
Protestants  cannot  see  any  hope  of  reform  in  the 
Italian  Catholic  Church,  believing  that  its  destruc 
tion  must  precede  anything  better.  But  a  larger 
proportion  are  watching  and  many  have  keen  sym 
pathy  for  the  reform  movement  in  the  church  which 
is  called  Modernism.  This  would  seem  to  be,  to  a 
great  if  undefined  extent,  due  to  evangelical  missions 
and  evangelical  propaganda,  and  outstandingly  due 
to  the  work  done  now  for  a  century  in  scattering  the 
Scriptures  throughout  Italy.  The  earliest  Italian 
version  of  the  Bible  was  Malherbi's,  translated  from 
the  Vulgate,  in  two  volumes,  Venice,  1471.  It  was 
revised  in  1641,  1855,  and  1884.  Another  version 
was  by  Antonio  Bruccioli,  Venice,  1532.  The  "au 
thorized  version"  of  the  Bible,  a  revision  of  which, 
in  the  Old  Testament  as  well  as  the  New,  is  now 
approaching  completion,  was  first  translated  from 
the  originals  in  1607  by  Giovanni  Diodati,  and  in  a 
revised  form  in  1641.  Antonio  Martini  was  the 
author  of  the  accepted  Catholic  version,  translated 
from  the  Vulgate,  the  New  Testament  in  1769,  the 
Old  in  1776.  For  a  long  time  the  Vatican  prohibited 
the  reading  of  any  version  whatever,  and  Martini 's 
edition  has  never  been  put  before  the  public  in  at 
tractive  or  convenient  form.  The  issuance  in  1902 
of  a  popular  finely  edited  translation  of  the  New 
Testament  by  the  Society  of  St.  Jerome,  with  irenic 
spirit  toward  Protestantism,  was  at  first  fathered 
by  the  pope  and  was  receiving  large  favor  through 
out  the  land,  when  after  a  few  years  the  Vatican, 
alarmed  by  its  liberalizing  influence,  caused  the  ef 
fort  to  die  a  lingering  death.  However,  popular  edi 
tions  of  a  new  translation  of  the  New  Testament 
from  the  originals,  with  simple  notes,  have  been 
sponsored  and  widely  disseminated  by  the  Society 
Fides  et  Amor,  having  on  its  directorate  members 
of  all  creeds.  Thousands  of  copies  of  this  as  well 


THE  BACKGROUND  IN  ITALY  51 

as  of  the  Diodati  version  which  as  precious  seed 
colporteurs  have  been  sowing  over  Italy  for  several 
generations  and  of  late  years  in  the  trenches,  are 
now  in  the  hands  of  the  public  and  are  bearing  fruit. 
Modernism. — In  a  time  when  socialism  of  the  ma 
terialistic  and  atheistic  sort,  characteristic  of  Italy, 
is  common,  and  also  when  the  Vatican  is  in  the  field 
with  a  political  party,  what  is  the  religious  outlook 
for  the  future?  The  spectacular  party  of  Modern 
ists  of  the  political,  philosophical,  hypercritical  type 
is  dead.  The  value  of  the  first  phase  of  the  move 
ment  was  that  it  demonstrated  with  tremendous 
power  the  need  of  reform  in  the  Koman  Church. 
But  the  soul  of  the  movement  lives  and  gathers 
force.  Groups  of  sincere  men  continue  to  think  and 
plan  for  the  future.  Their  ideas  penetrate  the  Vati 
can  which  is  fighting  a  losing  battle  against  all  lib 
eral  movements  in  order  to  hold  its  autocratic  power. 
The  young  seminarists  are  in  a  state  of  great  unrest, 
and  revolt  against  the  antiquatedness  of  their  teach 
ing,  for  while  Rome  continues  to  make  them  her  crea 
tures  in  mind  and  thought,  through  a  Prussian-like 
system,  she  continues  unreformed.  And  although 
the  majority  of  the  rank  and  file  of  priests  are  im 
moral  or  ignorant  or  place-servers,  there  are  worthy 
men  in  the  lower  places  and  men  of  liberal  spirit 
working  almost  evangelically  in  high  places.50  Two 
recent  happenings  are  evidence  of  the  leaven  in  ac 
tion.  In  the  trenches,  in  contact  with  rude  reality, 
many  Catholic  chaplains  made  use  of  Protestant 
Testaments  and  rituals,  and  as  a  result  not  less 
than  seventy  at  one  time  were  in  correspondence 
with  Prof.  Luzzi  concerning  vital  questions,  philo 
sophical,  higher-critical,  or  of  personal  faith  and 
practice.  Since  the  war,  Dr.  Henry  Pons,  while 
pastor  at  Palermo  and  Waldensian  superintendent 

eo  Luzzi,  Chapter  VII. 


52  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

for  Southern  Italy,  has  succeeded  in  organizing  a 
league  of  prayer  embracing  not  only  the  evangelical 
clergy,  but  about  a  third  of  the  Koman  Catholic 
priests  of  the  island.  Avoiding  all  doctrinal  differ 
ences,  this  bands  together  all  those  who  feel  the  need 
of  a  higher,  purer,  and  more  spiritual  life.  The 
league  has  a  monthly  bulletin,  entitled  Fides  (Faith) 
which  is  growing  to  be  a  blessed  factor  in  the  life 
of  many.51 

Program  of  Protestantism. — In  the  Protestant 
churches  there  is  a  vigorous  life  and  fair  growth, 
although  not  such  as  to  satisfy  the  leaders.  As 
the  then  superintendent  of  the  Southern  District  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  said,  "Our  Italian 
Protestant  missions  are  still  in  the  seed-sowing  pe 
riod;  the  harvest  is  not  yet."  Finances  in  these 
times  are  a  difficulty,  and  the  movement  in  its  vari 
ous  bodies  is  undergoing  reorganization  and  expan 
sion.  Many  leaders  are  dissatisfied  with  old  meth 
ods,  and  this  is  being  expressed  in  new  plans  looking 
to,  firstly,  a  large  use  of  social  work,  and  secondly, 
novel  and  extensive  organs  of  propaganda  through 
printing.  Meanwhile  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  several 
important  tendencies  continue ;  the  tendency  to  inter 
denominational  cooperation  and  unity;  the  concen 
tration  of  effort  in  strategic  centers  through  the  use 
of  worthy  edifices  and  efficient  staff;  the  evangeliza 
tion  of  hundreds  of  rural  towns  through  the  return 
of  evangelized  and  emancipated  emigrants  to  Amer 
ica,  who  have  already  planted  Protestant  families, 
missions  and  churches  with  their  light  and  life 
throughout  the  emigration-giving  provinces  in  the 
last  twenty-five  years. 

51  Report  of  Rev.  Enrico  Sartorio  to  the  American  Waldensian 
Aid  Society,  March,  1920. 


Chapter  II 

THE  IMMIGRATION  AND  ECONOMIC  CONDI 
TIONS  OF  ITALIAN-AMERICANS 

Part  I 

IMMIGRATION 

Bearing  in  mind  the  causes  and  character  of 
Italian  immigration  to  the  United  States  as  previ 
ously  stated,  we  now  seek  for  the  determining  fac 
tors  and  character  of  the  distribution  of  these  new 
Americans. 

Factors  governing  distribution  in  urban  and 
metropolitan  centers. — The  determining  factors  are 
chiefly  three :  1.  The  economic  opportunity  our  coun 
try  offers;  2.  The  immigrant's  trade  or  training; 
3.  the  location  of  kinsfolk  or  former  neighbors. 
Where  are  the  Italians  located  who  form  so  great  a 
proportion  as  ten  per  cent  of  our  population  of  for 
eign  birth?  According  to  the  census  of  1920,  in  the 
state  of  New  York  there  are  862,000  Italians;  in 
Pennsylvania  351,000;  in  New  Jersey  248,000;  in 
Massachusetts  174,000;  in  Illinois  149,000;  in  Cali 
fornia  139,000;  in  Connecticut  127,000;  in  Ohio  96,- 
000;  Rhode  Island  51,000;  Michigan  48,000;  Louisi 
ana  26,000;  Missouri  23,000;  West  Virginia  22,- 
OOO.1  Such  a  table  demonstrates  that  the  Italian 
population  is  found  where  the  great  manufacturing 
and  mining  industries  are  in  which  they  engage,  and 
hence  geographically  they  are  to  be  found  in  the 

1  Figures  include  foreign  born  and  those,  one  or  both  of  whose 
parents  were  born  in  Italy. 

53 


54,  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

New  England,  Middle  Atlantic  and  East  North  Cen 
tral  sections.  Outside  of  these,  only  Louisiana,  be 
cause  of  the  Italians  of  New  Orleans,  and  California, 
because  of  the  Italians  of  San  Francisco,  have  large 
numbers  of  the  race.  Moreover  four-fifths  of  the 
total  is  urban,  and  in  no  small  degree  metropolitan, 
when  we  consider  the  present  Italian  population  of 
our  larger  American  cities  (including  those,  one  or 
both,  of  whose  parents  were  born  in  Italy) :  New 
York  City  615,000,  Philadelphia  100,000,  Chicago 
93,000,  Newark  43,000,  Boston  60,000,  San  Francisco 
37,000,  New  Orleans  12,000,  Jersey  City  23,000, 
Pittsburgh  24,000,  Providence  30,000,  New  Haven 
23,000,  Detroit  25,000,  Cleveland  28,803,  Baltimore 
12,000,  Kochester  30,000,  Buffalo  27,000.2 

Cause  of  the  immigration  to  be  found  in  economic 
expansion. — We  have  seen  that  it  has  become  char 
acteristic  of  Italian  immigration  to  respond  readily 
to  economic  expansion  and  contraction  in  the  United 
States.  The  great  mass  of  immigrants,  for  the  most 
part  farmers,  used  to  the  mattock,  here  find  work 
with  pick  and  shovel  on  those  great  construction 
enterprises  which  good  times  promote,  and  return  to 
Italy  for  the  winter,  or  for  a  longer  period  when 
work  is  lacking.  "A  relative  or  friend  in  mine,  or 
work  of  factory  construction,  knows  if  there  is  a 
shortage  of  labor  or  a  place  for  friend  or  relative 
from  Europe.  .  .  .  The  magnitude  of  the  interna 
tional  and  money  order  business  of  the  United  States 
together  with  the  fact  that  the  mass  of  immigrants 
go  unerringly  to  the  states  where  wages  are  highest 
and  their  services  are  in  greatest  demand,  indicates 
the  effectiveness  of  the  system."3  Limited  by  ac 
cessibility  to  the  great  centers,  where  the  labor 

2  The  Interracial  Council  figures  of  December,  1919. 

8  Sheridan,  F.  J.,  Italian,  Slavic,  and  Hungarian  Unskilled  Im 
migrant  Laborers  in  the  United  States,  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor 
Bulletin  No.  72,  p.  40SI 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS       55 

gangs  are  recruited,  these  laborers  are  to  be  found 
wherever  operations  are  being  conducted.  One  in 
vestigation  which  Sheridan  reports,  made  in  the 
early  years  of  the  century,  revealed  the  larger  part 
of  40,737  workers  sent  out  to  14  northern  states, 
where  they  were  chiefly  engaged  in  railroad  build 
ing,  and  the  rest  to  12  southern  states,  where  they 
went  as  cotton  pickers,  miners  of  phosphate  rock, 
and  cotton  mill  hands.  In  later  years  they  have 
gone  to  construction  work  in  the  most  remote  sec 
tions  of  the  United  States  and  Canada.  Sheridan 
also  reported  that  of  100  laborers  upon  discharge, 
10  per  cent  remain  in  the  localities  to  which  they  are 
sent,  50  per  cent  go  to  the  nearest  large  city,  40  per 
cent  return  to  native  land. 

Later  invasion  of  industries. — Having  obtained  a 
foothold  through  these  migrations  in  construction 
work,  and  become  oriented  to  a  degree  in  American 
life,  as  the  years  have  passed  and  especially  as  the 
war  has  stopped  the  "  birds  of  passage, "  Italian  im 
migrants  have  invaded  a  multitude  of  industries 
with  a  resulting  relative  fixity  of  residence  which  has 
made  for  the  immigration  of  their  families.  In 
Massachusetts  a  state  inquiry  on  "Kace  in  Indus 
try7'  as  early  as  1904,  brought  out  the  facts  that  of 
10,956  Italians  then  in  the  state  (of  whom  92.33  per 
cent  were  males),  in  13  classes  of  production  in  58 
different  manufacturing  industries,  34.52  per  cent 
were  in  three  classes  as  laborers ;  13.73  per  cent  were 
in  five  subdivisions  of  trade ;  7.58  per  cent  in  personal 
service;  2.06  per  cent  in  nine  subdivisions  of  pro 
fessions;  1.88  per  cent  in  two  branches  of  personal 
service ;  1.83  per  cent  in  three  branches  of  transporta 
tion;  1.82  per  cent  in  mining;  .34  in  government  serv 
ice;  .31  in  agriculture;  .15  in  fishing;  1.01  children 
at  work.4 

*  Quoted  by  Sheridan. 


56  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

Italians  are  found  in  large  numbers  in  the  metal 
trades,  as  for  example  in  foundries,  automobile  fac 
tories,  manufactories  of  cutlery  and  fixtures.  They 
work  in  the  lumber  mills  of  the  South  and  California, 
paper  and  wood  pulp,  rubber,  glass,  tobacco,  oil  and 
chemical,  shoe  and  textile  (except  cotton)  factories. 
They  have  invaded  the  clothing  industry,  rivaling 
the  Jews  since  1890  in  New  York  and  Philadelphia, 
Italian  women  being,  respectively,  two-thirds  and 
one-half  of  those  employed.  They  are  in  the  glove, 
knit-goods,  button,  and  artificial  flower  trades;  in 
candy,  paper-box,  celluloid,  and  piano  making;  in 
laundries  and  canneries ;  but  in  such  manufacturing 
and  allied  pursuits  "natural  aptitudes  have  counted 
but  little,  trained  skill  only  a  little,  and  physical 
strength  to  but  a  moderate  degree.  Not  much 
knowledge  of  this  country's  speech  has  been  neces 
sary.  New  York  State,  the  Connecticut  Valley,  and 
New  Jersey,  where  the  Italians  are  now  the  second 
immigrant  group  in  point  of  numbers,  have  been  the 
preferred  regions.  Italian  women  .  .  .  have  been 
exceptionally  eager  for  employment  and  yet  have 
held  aloof  from  domestic  service  and  commercial 
pursuits/' 5 

In  mining  and  building. — In  mining  they  have  at 
tained  a  commanding  position.  In  the  bituminous 
coal  industry  the  Immigration  Commission  found 
members  of  the  race  to  be  one-eighth  of  the  entire 
working  force.  In  1910  there  were  28,650  persons, 
born  in  Italy,  in  the  three  primary  anthracite  coal 
counties  of  Pennsylvania.  They  are  in  the  metal 
liferous  regions  of  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Minnesota 
and  of  the  far  West ;  in  the  phosphate  mines  of  the 
South;  and  with  great  success  in  northern  stone 
quarries.  In  building  trades  they  are  less  numer 
ous  because  of  competition,  although  relatively  of 

6Foerster,  pp.  245-349. 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS       57 

large  number,  except  as  stone-cutters,  masons,  and 
of  course  as  excavators.  On  public  works,  street- 
cleaning  and  street-building,  and  other  public  build 
ing  enterprises,  of  small  and  of  great  magnitude, 
they  are  omnipresent  and  often  have  a  monopoly  of 
the  work. 

They  have  recently  displaced  other  races  as  long 
shoremen  ;  they  have  succeeded  the  Irish  as  unskilled 
labor  on  the  railways,  so  great  a  system  as  the  Penn 
sylvania  reporting  13,500  on  its  rolls.6 

Following  the  trade  of  the  Fatherland. — A  certain 
proportion  of  Italian  immigration  has  not  been  com 
pelled  or  attracted  to  work  at  other  than  their  over 
seas  trades,  but  has  found  its  place  in  American  in 
dustry  at  the  old  time  occupations  and  therefore  is 
often  better  distributed.  Of  such  a  sort  are  stone 
cutters,  mechanics,  mariners,  masons,  barbers,  seam 
stresses  and  shoemakers.  The  Italian  barber  is 
everywhere.  In  Philadelphia  he  almost  monopolizes 
the  trade.  He  is  coming  to  be  the  leading  shoe 
maker,  and  huckster,  and  is  still  the  bootblack,  the 
fruit-dealer,  the  stone-cutter,  or  musician  even  in  the 
small  town.  Of  Italians'  service  to  Italians  we  shall 
speak  in  another  connection. 

The  Italian  in  agriculture. — Relatively  to  the  to 
tal,  the  Italians  are  few  in  number  on  the  soil.  The 
reasons  universally  ascribed  for  this  fact  are:  the 
remembrance  of  former  bitter  experience  in  agricul 
ture  in  Italy;  the  clinging  to  urban  life  as  it  was 
known  there,  and  corresponding  distaste  for  the  soli 
tude  of  the  American  farm;  and  the  quick  returns 
from  industrial  work  as  compared  with  the  hard 
labor  and  slow  returns  from  the  farm.  Against  these 
motives  the  one-time  campaign  which  American  and 
Italian  authorities  seemed  to  have  waged  about  fif 
teen  years  ago,  and  the  plea  of  the  social-worker 

6  Foerster,  pp.  349-359. 


58  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

who  would  solve  the  problem  of  Italian  distribution 
in  multiplied  agricultural  colonies,  is  of  no  avail. 
Gaining  wisdom  from  experience,  one  writer  on  this 
phase  suggested  that  "the  solution  of  the  problem 
of  assimilating  the  Italian  immigrant  lies  in  estab 
lishing  them  in  country  districts  where  the  climate 
and  products  are  suited  to  their  constitution  and 
knowledge  of  farming,  and  in  providing  manufactur 
ing  plants  with  simple  processes  which  will  require 
the  labor  of  their  young  people."  7 

Their  initiation. — A  valuable  guide  to  the  Italian 
immigrant  lists  the  better  known  agricultural  colo 
nies  in  the  United  States.8  Aside  from  a  few  defi 
nitely  undertaken  migrations  from  Italy  for  agricul 
tural  colonization,  agricultural  settlements  have  been 
founded  in  the  following  ways :  1.  Members  of  con 
struction  gangs  have  remained  in  the  vicinity  where 
they  were  engaged,  and  have  bought  and  improved 
land.  2.  Groups  migrate  temporarily  from  the  city 
to  pick  berries  or  hops,  to  cultivate  tobacco  or  sugar 
cane,  or,  in  the  season,  to  can  vegetables  and  fruits, 
and  remain.  3.  Market  gardeners,  usually  South 
Italians,  cultivate  a  vacant  lot  or  pieces  of  land  they 
have  acquired  in  the  neighborhood  of  cities.9  North 
Italians  take  a  prominent  part  in  these  agricultural 
settlements  especially  where  they  are  union  enter 
prises,  as  at  Vineland,  N.  J.  (the  oldest  colony),  at 
Valdese,  N.  C.,  Glastonbury,  Conn.,  Tontitown,  Ark., 
Asti,  Cal.  Leadership  is  always  an  important  factor 
in  final  success. 

Canastota;  N.  Y.,  Genoa  and  Cumberland,  Wis., 
Hammonton,  N.  J.,  Independence,  La.,  are  examples 
of  Italian  rural  towns  initiated  by  laborers  who 

7  Emily  Fogg  Meade,  The  Italian  on  the  Land,  U.  S.  Bulletin 
of  Labor,  1907,  p.  533. 

8  John  Foster  Carr,  A  Guide  to  the  United  States  for  Italian 
Immigrants. 

9Foerster,  p.  365. 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS      59 

stayed,  or  berry  pickers  who  bought  land.  Italian 
market  gardeners  are  numberless,  especially  since 
the  prosperity  during  the  war  has  allowed  play  to 
the  instinct  to  buy  land,  and  thus  for  a  certain  pro 
portion  of  the  population  to  return  to  the  overseas 
occupation  of  farming.  Their  small  farms  are  seen 
in  the  neighborhood  of  any  city  or  town  which  has  a 
fair-sized  Italian  colony. 

Success  and  failure  as  fanners. — The  farmers  of 
these  agricultural  settlements  often  make  a  success 
where  American  farmers  fail,  but  characteristically 
do  not  carry  on  the  diversified  farming  or  produce 
staple  crops  as  the  American.  Deficient  in  capital 
and  in  the  understanding  of  machines,  fertilizer,  and 
rotation  of  crops  which  capital  allows,  the  southern 
Italians,  especially,  begin  in  a  small  way  by  digging 
or  grubbing  out  a  farm  from  waste  lands.  Their 
crops  are  berries,  grapes,  peaches,  vegetables,  for 
age,  cotton.  In  several  colonies,  only  in  recent  years, 
has  wealth  been  amassed.  Over  a  course  of  years 
they  have  learned  method  from  the  Americans.  The 
colonies  are  very  interesting  as  schools  of  coopera 
tion.  Some  have  failed  through  its  lack.  Others  are 
very  successful.  Sunnyside  possesses  fruit  evapo 
rators,  canneries,  and  cider  and  vinegar  factories. 
Independence  markets  its  strawberries  through  a 
powerful  Association  in  refrigerator  cars.  Asti  is 
'nationally  important  for  its  wineries,  claiming  as 
sets  of  nearly  $3,000,000  as  long  ago  as  1910.10  From 
the  social  and  Americanization  aspects,  there  will  be 
much  to  say  of  these  agricultural  colonies. 

What  of  the  return  movement  to  Italy? — The  re 
turn  movement  of  Italians  to  Italy  since  the  war  has 
not  been  the  significant  one  which  it  was  expected 
to  be.  The  great  desire  to  see  friends  and  the  native 
village,  and  how  things  are  after  the  war  has 
prompted  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 

10  Foerster,  Chapter  XIX. 


60  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

to  return.  But  the  idea  is  well-nigh  universal  that 
such  absence  is  but  for  a  visit,  especially  since  many 
of  those  who  first  returned  are  again  in  America, 
having  found  that  work  is  a  minus  quantity  in  Italy, 
and  living  conditions,  to  their  mind,  are  intolerable. 
The  numbers  lost  have  been  offset  by  the  return  of 
200,000  Italian  reservists  to  the  United  States,  and 
by  the  coming  of  the  families  of  Italians  already 
here,  which  are  clamoring  to  be  sent  for  in  every  in 
coming  mail. 

These  years  of  absence  from  the  Fatherland,  en 
forced  though  they  were,  coupled  with  rising  stand 
ards  permitted  by  prosperity,  have  dug  a  chasm  be 
tween  his  present  life  in  America  and  the  old  in 
Italy,  which  renders  the  Italian  immigrant  in  large 
measure  not  at  home  any  longer  in  his  native  land. 


Part  II 

ECONOMIC    CONDITIONS 

Italian  colonies  formed  of  clans. — Returning  now 
to  the  third  motive  leading  to  distribution  of  Italian 
immigrants,  namely  the  rejoining  of  relatives  or  fel 
low-villagers  here  in  the  United  States,  we  should 
link  it  with  a  more  exact  scrutiny  of  economic  condi 
tions.  Even  more  than  the  labor  gang,  the  Italian 
colony  has  come  to  be  the  typical  phenomenon  of 
Italian  immigration  in  America.  Whether  large  or 
small,  the  basic  features  of  such  colonies  are  wonder 
fully  similar.  A  self-reliant  individual  becomes 
well-placed  with  a  job,  and  stays  even  though  iso 
lated.  He  discovers  that  there  is  work  here  for  other 
men  of  his  village  and  sends  for  them,  and  they  join 
him.  When  their  means  are  sufficient,  and  condi 
tions  are  tolerable,  other  members  of  the  families 
come  till  all  are  assembled.  For  example,  the  men 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS      6l 

of  Salle,  a  village  of  the  Abruzzi,  came  to  Astoria, 
Long  Island,  before  scattering  to  smaller  groups  in 
various  parts  of  America.  A  Waldensian  cook  be 
came  established  in  Hartford,  Conn.,  and  there  is 
now  at  that  place  a  circle  of  related  families  mainly 
engaged  in  the  same  occupation.  With  a  greater 
complexity,  the  same  holds  true  in  cities  with  large 
colonies,  or  even  of  the  huge  metropolitan  colonies; 
there  are,  indeed,  accretions  of  solitary  individuals 
for  whom  the  fact  of  Italian  nationality  is  sufficient. 
They  may  be  former  Italian  soldiers  used  to  being 
with  men  from  all  parts  of  the  peninsula;  but  the 
bulk  of  the  population  is  made  up  of  distinct  ele 
ments,  often  living  to  themselves  in  specific  streets 
or  localities,  and  coming  from  particular  towns  or 
districts  in  Italy.  The  original  element  in  a  given 
American  city  may  be  from  certain  villages  of  the 
Basilicata,  and  by  this  time  is  Americanized  suffi 
ciently  to  be  diffused  through  the  American  popu 
lation.  The  next  element  is  from  one  or  more  vil 
lages  of  Avellino,  and,  still  arriving,  masses  together 
in  certain  blocks  and  streets;  the  third  and  largest 
element,  dating  only  ten  or  fifteen  years  back  to  its 
earliest  comers,  is  from  three  villages  of  Siracusa  in 
Sicily,  this,  too,  massed  together.  Smaller  groups 
may  be  from  Messina,  or  native  to  some  town  of  the 
Abruzzi,  or  of  some  village  of  the  North.  It  is  now 
well  known  that  Italian  towns  are  transplanted  to 
certain  streets  in  New  York.  The  local  sentiment, 
campanilismo,  transferred  to  America,  may  be  so 
tremendously  strong  as  to  hold  the  group  together 
and  faithful  even  to  minute  overseas  customs  as  in 
case  of  the  "Cinisi,"  natives  of  that  Sicilian  village, 
now  resident  in  New  York.11 

Residence  and  assimilation. — In  New  York,  in 
general,  the  investigators  of  the  Carnegie  Corpora- 

11  Thomas,  Treatment  of  Immigrant  Heritages,  Carnegie  Cor 
poration  Studies. 


62  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

tion  assert  that  the  first  residence  of  Italian  immi 
grants  is  the  Bowery  and  its  neighborhood ;  the  sec 
ond,  permitted  by  greater  economic  well-being,  is  in 
"Little  Italy"  and  in  the  Bronx;  and  the  third  resi 
dence,  of  the  younger  generation  or  those  who  have 
become  well  Americanized,  is  in  the  boroughs  and 
not  primarily  among  the  Italian  population. 

Relation  of  colonies  to  industry! — Italian- Ameri 
can  colonies  may  have  a  three-fold  relation  to  local 
industry:  (1)  they  may  take  complete  possession  of 
it  as  for  example  in  case  of  the  clothing  or  artificial 
flower  trade  in  New  York;  or  (2)  becoming  more 
static,  because  more  a  colony  of  families,  its  mem 
bers  may  seek  to  enter  varied  occupations.  Such 
is  the  case  of  the  large  colony  at  New  Haven,  Conn., 
where  it  is  difficult  to  select  any  one  industry  as  the 
reason  for  the  existence  of  the  large  group  resident 
there.  (3)  It  may  serve  as  a  home  base  for  the 
winter  life  of  construction  gangs,  formerly  an  im 
portant  social  phenomenon,  but  of  less  consequence 
in  late  years,  now  that  a  colony  is  made  up  of  fami 
lies,  and  many  Italians  during  war  activities  have 
become  recruited  to  skilled  labor. 

The  motive  of  saving. — The  migrations,  uniformly 
the  earlier,  and,  less  exclusively,  the  later,  within 
communities,  or  from  one  community  to  another,  are 
dictated  by  the  economic  motive,  and,  specifically, 
the  motive  of  saving.  Without  a  doubt  this  motive 
stands  head  and  shoulders  above  any  other  in  Ital 
ian-American  life,  a  reaction  from  narrow  means 
in  Italy.  There  is  indeed  a  certain  impressiveness 
in  the  grand  total  of  facts  so  often  pointed  to:  (1) 
Of  the  Italians  in  New  York  City  alone,  who  own 
$100,000,000  of  real  estate;12  (2)  of  great  sums  in 
savings  banks,  and  greater  sent  to  Italy;  (3)  of  the 
largest  land-owner  in  the  state  of  Connecticut  being 

12  Sartorio,  p.  20. 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS      63 

an  Italian;  (4)  of  a  New  England  theatrical  man  of 
Italian  birth  recently  forming  a  ten-million-dollar 
corporation  within  his  own  family ;  yet,  excluding  re 
cent  prosperity,  the  average  Italian  immigrant  ex 
perience  in  saving  has  been  a  bitter  one.  Some  Ital 
ians  have  had  their  chance;  most  have  had  small 
chance  in  America.  The  major  portion  of  money 
sent  to  Europe  has  probably  been  for  the  mainten 
ance  of  families,  and  real  savings  or  no,  it  has  been 
individually  but  a  pittance,  wrung  from  hard  toil, 
and  accumulated  through  stinting. 

Standard  of  living  during  the  last  generation. — 
Italians,  as  helpless  newcomers,  have  had  to  accept 
low  wages,  less  than  a  living  wage  according  to 
American  standards.  In  the  early  period  a  third  of 
all  Italians  in  the  United  States  living  in  New  York, 
Chicago,  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore  were  found  by 
the  Commissioner  of  Labor  to  be  living  in  deplor 
able  poverty  and  not  many  had  yet  been  able  to  move, 
into  the  better  districts.13  Things  were  better  after 
1900,  but  chiefly  for  trades-people,  less  so  for  labor 
ers,  though  thrifty.14  Irregularity  of  employment 
was  a  problem  for  the  masses  engaged  in  construc 
tion  work,  through  the  cessation  of  labor  during  the 
winter,  or  during  depression.  Italian  families  aver 
age  three  times  as  large  as  American.  They  are  un 
adjusted  to  their  small  American  income,  and  there 
fore,  following  any  irregularity  in  employment, 
many  families  are  in  financial  straits  or  on  the  mar 
gin  of  efficiency.  In  1914-15  the  Associated  Chari 
ties  of  Boston  dealt  with  40  per  cent  more  new  cases 
than  in  the  previous  year,  but  in  the  principal  Ital 
ian  district  the  increase  was  300  per  cent. 15 

Wages. — A  fair  summary  of  several  types  of  wages 

13  U.  S.  Commissioner  of  Labor,  Seventh  Special  Report,  The 
'Slums  of  Great  Cities,  1894. 

14  Industrial  Commission,  XV,  pp.  574  f. 

15  Foerster,  p.  378. 


64  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

is  the  following :  Home  workers  in  the  clothing  trade 
have  received  about  five  cents  an  hour;  men  work 
ers  in  the  same  trade  perhaps  $8  or  $9  per  week. 
Shop  operatives  in  confectionery,  artificial  flower 
making  and  allied  trades  have  been  paid  in  recent 
years  $5-$7  per  week,  in  the  case  of  girls  or  women. 
Common  labor  in  the  Eastern  States,  for  years  be 
fore  the  war,  was  given  $1.50  per  ten-hour  day,  more 
or  less,  sometimes  $1.25.  In  the  cities  construction 
men  might  secure  $2.  Unionized  hod-carriers  have 
been  paid  $3-$4,  non-unionized,  $2-$3  for  a  longer 
day.  Miners'  helpers  have  made  $2-$3.  Skilled 
miners  (the  minority),  $3-$4,  and  other  skilled  work 
men,  the  same  or  more.  Though  the  rates  have  been 
higher  in  recent  years  than  fifteen  or  twenty  years 
ago,  they  contend  with  strikingly  higher  prices  of 
food  and  other  necessities.16  The  northern  Italian 
earns  more,  but  spends  more  for  a  higher  standard 
of  living,  and  often  saves  less. 

Family  in  industry. — The  single  worker  without 
family  has  been  said  to  be  able  to  save  a  maximum 
of  $40  out  of  $50.  The  wives  of  southern  Italians, 
except  through  child  bearing  periods,  contribute  to 
the  income  through  work,  or,  in  the  country,  by  gath 
ering  whatever  of  food  or  fuel  they  may.  The  aver 
age  child  goes  to  work  as  soon  as  the  law  permits.17 
A -common  phenomenon  among  Italians  is  that  of 
giving  all  or  a  large  portion  of  their  earning  to 
their  parents  well  up  to  the  time  of  their  coming  of 
age.  On  the  other  hand  the  practice  of  providing  a 
dowry  for  the  daughter  is  more  common  among  Ital 
ian  families  than  among  all  save  well-to-do  American 
families.  The  golden  years  of  saving  are  those  im 
mediately  following  going  to  work  of  the  youth  of 
the  family.  Normally  the  children  educated  in 
America,  or  more  Americanized,  enter  more  skilled 

16  Foerster,  pp.  378,  379. 

17  Foerster,  p.  480. 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS       65 

or  professional  work  than  their  elders,  and  earn 
more. 

Standard  of  living  to-day. — The  economic  up 
heaval  of  the  great  war  wrought  a  great  change  in 
the  finances  of  many  Italian  families.  On  the  one 
hand  the  man  with  small  children  found  that  the 
high  cost  of  living  left  him  no  better  or  even  worse 
off  than  before  in  spite  of  his  higher  wage.  On  the 
other  hand  the  man  without  family,  or  one  whose 
grown  children  were  an  industrial  asset,  frequently 
aided  by  his  membership  in  a  labor  union,  or  if  he 
participated  in  the  extraordinarily  high  wages 
prevalent  in  many  trades,  obtained  a  modest  com 
petence. 

Adaptation  to  the  American  standard  of  living. — 
The  adaptation  of  the  Italian  immigrant  to  the 
American  standard  of  life  is  proportionate  to  his 
youthfulness  at  the  time  of  his  arrival  here.  The 
older  generation  changes  very  slightly  except  as 
economic  motive  constrains  it.  This  holds  true  in 
town,  but  also  in  the  country  notwithstanding 
greater  contact  with  Americans.18  There  are  many 
men  who  have  never  learned,  and  who  are  incapable 
of  learning,  English,  many  women,  who,  still  held  in 
domestic  seclusion,  never  venture  beyond  their  quar 
ter  and  whom  the  teacher  of  English  must  seek  to 
teach,  not  outside  of  their  own  block,  if  she  would 
teach  them  at  all.  The  younger  generation  born  in 
Italy,  still  attached  to  Italian  cooking,  and  to  over 
seas  family  customs,  nevertheless  wants  American 
things.  "The  first  marked  change  ...  is  probably 
in  clothing.  Neatly  attired  young  men  and  women 
come  from  crowded  and  dirty  homes."19  The  gen 
eration  born  here  is  entirely  sophisticated  in  its 
American  life. 


18  Emily  Fogg  Meade,  The  Italian  on  the  Land,  pp.  507  ff. 

19  Ibid.,  Meade. 


66  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

Unrest. — Certain  Italian  colonists,  addicted  to  vio 
lent  speech,  have  in  the  past  gained  notoriety  be 
cause  of  their  socialism  and  anarchism.  There  is  a 
certain  amount  of  this  of  the  parlor  sort,  widely 
prevalent,  provoked  by  the  strength  of  socialism  in 
Italy  or  by  the  undoubtedly  harsh  and  sometimes  un 
just  economic  conditions  here.  But  the  Italian- 
American  shares  but  little  in  the  current  unrest 
called  bolshevism.  He  owns  too  much  property,  and 
has  too  many  savings  and  Liberty  bonds;  the  eco 
nomic  motive  in  him  causes  him  to  oppose  real  dis 
order.  Any  leadership  of  Italian  name  in  the  I. 
W.  W.  or  kindred  organizations  has  been  recruited 
not  among  immigrants,  but  imported  from  Italy  for 
the  purpose.20 

20  Statement  of  C.  M.  Panunzio,  Immigrant  in  Industry, 
Division  Industrial  Relations  Department,  Interchurch  World 
Movement. 


Chapter  HI 

SOCIAL    CONDITIONS   AND    EDUCATIONAL 
FORCES  AMONG  ITALIAN- AMERICANS 

Part  I 

SOCIAL   CONDITIONS 

Racial  heritage,  economic  status  and  methods  of 
distribution  produce  a  complicated  aggregate  of  so 
cial  conditions  among  Italian- Americans,  which  .can 
only  gradually  be  bettered.  American  indifference 
or  willingness  to  exploit  changes  these  conditions 
into  community  problems,  while  friendliness  and  un 
derstanding  convert  them  into  assets. 

Housing  and  its  evils. — The  standard  of  living, 
already  referred  to,  is  most  important  in  so  far  as 
it  directly  affects  housing  and  health.  The  out-of- 
doors,  semi-rural  life  of  Italy  becomes  generally  the 
urban  or  metropolitan  existence  of  America,  usually 
in  a  climate  more  rigorous  than  the  Italian,  com 
pelling  an  indoor  existence  for  many  weeks  of  the 
year.  Necessity,  ignorance  of  the  danger  involved, 
and  the  desire  to  save  throw  the  newly  arrived  Ital 
ian  immigrants  into  the  slums  or  poorest  quarters  of 
great  cities  and  into  houses  which  are  run  down, 
ill  adapted  to  tenement  uses,  and  quite  generally 
flimsy,  in  comparison  with  the  substantial  structures 
of  their  native  town.  In  the  average  city,  the  type 
of  houses  occupied  by  the  Italian  immigrant  is  well- 
known.  They  are  the  fine  old  residences,  poorly  re 
modeled  and  in  an  inferior  state  of  repair,  insuffi 
ciently  equipped  with  sanitary  conveniences,  inter 
spersed  with  cheap  new  tenements.  Owners  of  both 

67 


68  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

types  merely  pretend  to  observe  the  letter  of  the  law, 
and  under  a  lax  municipal  administration  do  not 
even  make  a  pretense.  The  earliest  observers  noted 
with  horror  the  dirty  rookeries  in  which  the  organ- 
grinders  and  sellers  of  statuettes  of  the  first  gen 
eration  of  Italian  immigrants  lived.1  A  few  years 
later  the  Italian  colonies  of  New  York  among  others 
were  the  victims  of  political  corruption  and  private 
greed,  and  the  beneficiaries  in  that  long  war  against 
bad  housing,  congestion,  lack  of  parks  and  poor 
school  buildings  well-known  to  the  public  through 
the  books  of  Jacob  Riis.2  Conditions  are  to-day  im 
mensely  better,  but  the  crowding,  and  sometimes  the 
dirt,  remains.  The  single  blocks  in  New  York  which 
hold  3,500  people,  an  average  of  1,100  to  the  acre, 
are  inhabited  by  Italians.  There  is  a  wide  disparity 
of  cleanliness  among  Italians;  some  houses  are 
hovels,  others  are  as  spick  and  span  as  the  old  or 
flimsy  construction  allows.  Often  the  halls  are  dirty, 
for  here  there  is  no  responsible  "concierge"  as  in 
Italy,  and  the  proprietor  is  apt  to  be  indifferent  to 
that  little  detail.  The  more  enterprising  families 
move  into  new  neighborhoods  or  better  quarters 
after  a  few  years  and  the  poor  and  less  efficient 
are  left  with  the  newer  comers.  The  complications 
of  the  problem  are :  the  double  or  triple  number  of 
children  in  an  Italian  family  as  compared  with  an 
American  family,  and  the  resulting  strain  on  the 
mother ;  the  indoor  life  to  which  the  women  and  girls 
of  immigrants  from  some  sections  of  Italy  are  con 
demned  by  old  country  ideas ;  the  quantity  of  home 
work  done  by  them,  often  in  ill-lighted  and  ill-venti 
lated  quarters ;  households  which  occupy  but  two  or 
three  rooms,  often  with  no  heat  but  that  of  the 
kitchen  stove;  the  habit  of  doubling  up  families  or 

1  C.  L.  Brace,  The  Dangerous  Classes  of  New  York,  3rd  edi 
tion,  pp.  194  f. 

2  Cf.  A  Ten  Tears'  War;  How  the  Other  Half  Lives,  etc. 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  SOCIAL  CONDITIONS      69 

of  taking  in  lodgers  or  boarders  which  the  presence 
of  many  unattached  men  has  produced ;  sleeping  with 
windows  unopened ;  living  with  a  minimum  of  bath 
ing  ;  such  phenomena  make  for  an  immense  increase 
of  tuberculosis  and  contagious  disease.3  The  hous 
ing  of  construction  gangs,  now  improved,  but  in  the 
past  provided  for  in  any  sort  of  shanty,  bunk-house 
or  discarded  freight  car  was  notorious. 

Diet. — A  well-rounded  diet  founded  on  Italian 
cooking  is  more  healthy  than  that  using  American 
dishes  if  the  prevalence  of  gastric  troubles  of  the 
races  be  compared;  but  the  actual  eating  of  many 
immigrant  families  has  often  been  poorly  adapted 
to  maintain  health,  for  example,  "rickets,"  a  disease 
due  to  a  limited  starch  diet,  is  prevalent  in  some  Ital 
ian  communities.  Investigation  shows  that  in  va 
riety,  quantity  and  cost,  the  standard  of  eating  of 
Italian  laborers  is  below  the  standard  of  other  im 
migrant  nationalities.4  Impairment  of  health  and  of 
physique  is  noticeable  among  a  large  proportion  of 
the  children.  Industrial  accident  and  disease  add 
to  the  death  rate,  social  problems,  and  personal  trag 
edy  among  these  people.  That  such  conditions  in  the 
months  of  higher  war  and  post-war  wages  in  in 
dustry  have  greatly  changed  is  a  pleasure  to  record. 
According  to  an  Italian  pastor  in  one  of  the  larger 
cities,  all  of  the  families  of  his  parish  own  or  are 
paying  for  their  own  houses;  and  although  this  is 
perhaps  >a  unique  case,  yet  home  ownership  is  an 
ideal  to  which  many  Italian  families  are  attaining.5 

The  Padrone. — The  early  fortunes  of  Italian  im- 

8  Mariano,  J.  H.,  The  Italian  Contribution  to  American 
'Democracy,  p.  51. 

4  Sheridan,  Italian,  Slavic  and  Hungarian  Unskilled  Immigrant 
Laborers  in  the  United  States,  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor  Bulletin 
No.  72,  p.  477. 

5  Mariano,  J.  H.,  The  Italian  Contribution  to  American  Democ 
racy,  pp.  37  Seq.  and  286. 


70  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

migrants  in  America  are  bound  up  with  that  unique 
.social  institution,  the  padrone  system.  Somebody 
must  be  the  intermediary  between  the  large  numbers 
of  Italian  laborers,  helpless  as  to  language  and 
knowledge  of  labor  opportunities,  and  American  em 
ployers  of  labor,  who  on  their  side  are  equally  help 
less  to  understand  or  make  the  point  of  contact  with 
these  people.  Hence  there  has  risen  from  the  midst 
of  the  immigrants  the  padrone,  or  the  gang  boss, 
indispensable  but  unmistakably  powerful.  Because 
he  is  indispensable,  even  just  employers  are  com 
pelled  to  allow  him  to  do  more  or  less  as  he  pleases, 
although  an  aroused  public  sentiment  and  regulation 
secured  by  the  Society  for  the  Protection  of  Italian 
Immigrants  has  curtailed  his  tyranny  of  the  earlier 
years.  He  exacts  all  kinds  of  grafts  and  perquisites 
from  the  men,  and  profits  from  their  necessities,  but 
as  he  knows  the  labor  market,  they  are  compelled 
through  necessity  of  employment  to  keep  silent  and 
return  to  him  year  after  year. 

The  banker. — His  confederate,  also  a  unique  fig 
ure  within  the  Italian  colonies,  is  the  so-called 
Italian  banker,  an  earlier  comer  than  most  of  his 
fellow  countrymen.  Besides  being  the  cicerone  and 
general  helper  of  his  lately  arrived  fellow-villagers, 
he  becomes  the  enroller  of  their  labor,  the  holder  of 
their  money  and  its  forwarder  to  Italy,  and  steam 
ship  agent.  He  has  plenty  of  trade,  however  un 
scrupulous  he  may  be,  as  the  recently  arrived  Italian 
has  need  of  him  -and  continues  to  be  long  awed  by 
the  magnificence  of  American  institutions,  commer 
cial  and  otherwise.  These  in  general  have  made  no 
attempt  to  win  his  patronage.  Of  late  years  the 
Italian  banker  has  regular  quarters  at  the  heart  of 
the  Italian  colony,  but  previously  he  may  have  had 
his  office  anywhere.  The  series  of  abscondings  and 
irregularities  of  his  kind  among  all  immigrant  na 
tionalities  has  forced  many  states  to  adopt  protec- 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  SOCIAL  CONDITIONS      71 

tive  legislation  after  the  manner  of  New  York  and 
Massachusetts.6 

An  Italian-American  street. — Along  the  principal 
street  of  an  Italian  colony  are  to  be  seen,  besides 
the  banks,  numerous  grocery  shops  and  markets, 
great  and  small,  displaying  fruits  and  vegetables, 
and  wares  peculiar  to  the  race,  the  Italian  pharmacy, 
undertaking  establishment,  cobbler  shop,  barber 
shop,  macaroni  manufactory,  an  inferior  restaurant, 
a  printer's  shop,  perhaps  the  home  of  a  local  paper, 
the  public  school,  the  Italian  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  and  frequently  the  Protestant  mission. 
There  may  be  a  cooperative  store,  a  form  of  business 
which  often  has  had  marked  success  among  Italian- 
Americans.  There  has  been  the  saloon,  as  much  a 
place  of  resort  as  of  drinking;  there  are  many  bot 
tled  soda  shops  and  pool-rooms  patronized  by  or 
maintained  by  clubs,  sometimes  gangs,  for  amuse 
ment,  or  for  political  or  less  legitimate  purposes. 
The  shingle  of  the  doctor  and  mid-wife  are  to  be 
seen,  these  persons,  especially  the  latter,  enjoying 
great  repute  among  their  people  because  of  the  high 
standing  of  their  professions  in  Italy.  Actually, 
through  our  loose  regulation,  they  may  be  ignorant 
and  inefficient  practitioners  here.  Upstairs  along 
the  street  are  to  be  found  cheap  lodging  houses,  the 
headquarters  for  Italian  bands,  and  the  large  num 
ber  of  lodges,  both  of  Italian  name  and  of  American 
name  with  Italian  constituency.  Besides  these,  the 
large  colonies  will  have  their  own  theater  and  mov 
ing  picture  halls,  charities,  hospital,  consulate, 
chamber  of  commerce,  and  luxurious  club.  In  and 
around  these  institutions,  social  and  business  life 
flows.  In  its  more  intimate  forms  it  is  circumscribed 
by  jealous  loyalty  to  paesani — that  is  to  members 
of  the  same  village  in  Italy,  or  the  feeling  of  being 

6  Abbott,  The  Immigrant  and  the  Community,  Chapter  IV. 
Foerster,  pp.  391,  392. 


72  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

a  northern  or  southern  Italian;  thus  "campanilism" 
or  the  regional  spirit  works  out  in  business,  in 
church,  in  lodge.  Among  those  of  a  given  village 
there  is  much  cooperation  in  small  ways,  and  much 
helpfulness  to  one  another  especially  when  trouble 
in  business,  in  family,  or  with  the  law  comes. 

Affection  for  Italy. — One  of  the  first  effects  of 
life  in  America  is  a  broadening  of  spirit.  Many  a 
provincial  Italian,  who  never  knew  of  or  cared  aught 
for  the  ideal  of  native  land  at  home,  finds  develop 
ing  early  a  new  affection  for  Italy  and  his  i  l  Italian- 
ita"  or  racial  heritage.  The  Italian  consul  is  his 
protector,  the  Italian  government  has  a  definite  pro 
gram  of  subsidy  for  Italian  Chambers  of  Commerce^ 
for  the  Dante  Alighieri  Society  and  the  schools 
where  the  Italian  language  is  taught,  etc.  The 
strongest  lodge  with  most  numerous  branches  bears 
the  name  "Sons  of  Italy, "  and  only  such  in  blood 
may  be  members"  ot  if."1  Italian  papers  publish  much 
news  from  Italy,  and  passionately  champion  her  na 
tional  aspirations.  Collections  in  aid  of  the  victims 
of  great  disasters  in  Italy,  or  of  war  sufferers,  and 
subscriptions  to  war  loans  are  presented  to  the 
Italians  in  America  and  meet  with  great  response, 
striking  the  chord  where  the  Italian  is  most  gener 
ous,  and  at  the  same  time  arousing  racial  sentiment. 
They  who  have  never  returned  to  Italy  often  idealize 
the  fatherland  with  homesick  longing,  and  hope, 
their  fortune  made,  to  return  there.  And  finally, 
Italy  has  never  renounced  the  right  to  call  those  of 
Italian  blood  to  military  service,  even  if  American 
citizens  or  born  in  America  of  Italian  descent.  At 
this  point  it  may  be  said  that  although  the  Italian 
government  is  not  disinterested  in  this  policy,  yet  it 
would  seem  that  a  finer  Italianism  is  often  the  best 
road  to  real  Americanism  in  Italian-Americans. 

But  the  most  potent  institution  among  Italian- 
Americans  is  the  family.  At  least  it  is  the  typical 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  SOCIAL  CONDITIONS      73 

unit  in  Italian  colonies.  The  older  Italian  in  the 
end  brings  his  family  to  America,  the  young  man  im 
ports  his  bride  and  founds  one ;  or  if  he  marries  here, 
he  seeks  immediately  to  set  up  a  separate  house 
hold. 

The  family. — We  have  seen  how  economic  neces 
sity  and  the  desire  to  participate  in  family  life  have 
created  the  system  among  Italian- Americans  of  mul 
tiplied  lodgers.  It  is  an  abnormality  which  does 
not  exist  in  Italy.  Without  a  doubt,  besides  adding 
to  the  congestion,  it  has  added  to  promiscuity  and 
immorality  in  families.  But  such  is  less  than  might 
be  expected  because  the  Italian  jealously  guards  his 
home.  He  is  head  of  the  family  and  exacts  obedi 
ence  from  wife  and  children,  and  according  to  cus 
tom  even  pretends  to  have  his  say  in  certain  affairs 
of  his  grown-up  sons  and  grandchildren.  It  is  a 
custom  with  the  force  of  law  among  southern  Ital 
ians,  for  instance,  that  the  first  grandchild  should 
bear  the  name  of  the  paternal  grandfather  or  grand 
mother.  The  Italian  man  sometimes  limits  the  lib 
erty  of  his  wife  to  leave  the  house.  If  he  is  of  the 
immigrant  generation  he  considers  it  a  duty  to  ac 
cept  all  the  children  that  Providence  may  bestow. 
But  although  he  or  his  wife  may  not  always  be  in 
telligent  or  model  parents,  they  love  their  children 
and  live  Ynth  them.  The  great  virtues  are  domestic 
virtues.  The  great  events  are  family  events.  The 
birth  of  a  child  is  hailed  with  great  joy  and  is  a 
subject  for  much  congratulation.  Its  baptism  is  im 
portant  not  only  on  account  of  its  religious  neces 
sity,  so  considered,  but  also  for  the  feasting  that 
occurs.  And  the  godfather  or  godmother  becomes, 
ex  officio,  little  less  than  blood  relations.  The  young 
girl  devotes  much  attention  to  her  hope  chest. 
Daughters  are  kept  close  at  home  especially  in  the 
evening;  Italians  are  unwilling  that  they  should  go 
out  in  domestic  service  because  they  cannot  super- 


74  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

vise  their  daughters  in  others '  homes ;  if  they  go  into 
the  factory,  it  must  be  near  at  hand,  and  conditions 
be  known.  Marriages  and  matters  of  dowry  continue 
to  be  arranged  by  the  parents.  Weddings  are  fes 
tive  affairs,  presents  are  generous.  Grief  for  the 
dead  is  violent,  but  the  proper  degree  of  pomp  and 
ceremony  at  the  funeral  must  be  observed  lest  the 
family  be  criticized. 

Recreation. — The  simplicity  of  Italian  recreation 
is  admirable  and  is  more  often  taken  in  family 
groups  than  otherwise.  They  gather  together  to 
sip  coffee  or  Italian  wine,  to  hear  a  little  music,  or 
to  play  cards,  or  stroll  out  together  for  an  evening, 
at  the  movies  and  especially  at  the  opera,  when  it 
comes  to  town,  or  in  these  later  days,  off  for  a  Sun 
day  afternoon,  the  whole  family  piled  into  the  auto. 
In  such  ways  Italians  take  boundless  pleasure  with 
out  extremes  or  excesses. 

The  annual  festival  of  their  lodge  provokes  a 
great  display  of  uniforms  and  banners  accompanied 
by  music,  elaborate  discourses,  and  much  eating  and 
drinking.  On  religious  holidays,  usually  occurring 
in  midsummer,  the  greatest  and  most  extravagant 
celebrations  take  place.  There  is  prodigal  decora 
tion,  street  illumination,  and  fireworks  for  the  pro 
cessions  when  the  patron  saint  is  honored  with  fes 
tivity.  Thousands  of  persons  are  often  in  line,  curi 
ous  and  sometimes  vulgar  expressions  of  religious 
emotion  occur,  and  large  offerings  are  frequently 
made  to  the  saints.  But  with  the  sloughing  off  of 
superstition,  the  tendency  year  by  year  is  to  reduce 
these  celebrations  to  more  limited  proportions. 

Parents  and  children. — Returning  to  the  subject 
of  the  family,  it  may  be  said  that  the  most  severe 
tests  and  the  greatest  moral  problems  arise  in  the 
adjustment  of  family  life  to  conditions  in  the  new 
country,  and  on  the  other  hand  American  institu 
tions  are  tested  by  their  power  to  conserve  Italian 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  SOCIAL  CONDITIONS      75 

habits  of  abiding  values.  The  immigrant  does  not 
ask  that  his  wife  be  his  mental  companion,  or  that 
she  know  much  of  the  outside  world.  She,  and  per 
haps  he,  marry  young,  her  family  duties  are  numer 
ous,  and,  not  infrequently,  she  dies,  worn-out  by 
work  or  child-bearing,  just  when  the  older  children 
need  her  guidance  most.  It  may  not  be  her  fault 
that  she  has  been  accused  of  not  knowing  how  to 
bring  up  her  children.  She  certainly  is  not  usually 
their  intellectual  companion  and  commonly  she  is  il 
literate  with  all  that  implies  of  outlook  on  life.  Yet, 
despite  all,  both  mother  and  father  are  remarkably 
ambitious  for  their  children.  The  tenacity  with 
which  they  try  to  hold  their  family  together,  and  the 
attachment  to  the  best  overseas  ideals  as  they  know 
them,  or  react  to  the  shocks  which  American  life 
brings  them  in  the  case  of  their  children,  must  rouse 
admiration.  But  the  circumstances  of  immigrant 
life  are  such  that  while  the  mother  remains  static 
in  mental  outlook,  and  the  father  also  to  large  de 
gree,  the  children  rapidly  change  Their  life  is 
plastic  and  gathers  many  impressions  from  an  en 
vironment  to  which  the  home  is  stranger.  Although 
parents  are  vaguely  desirous  that  the  children 
should  learn  the  overseas  tongue,  they  usually 
only  learn  a  garbled  form  of  the  family  dia 
lect,  of  which  they  become  ashamed,  and  which  they 
rapidly  replace  with  English.  In  other  ways  they 
speedily  become  Americanized,  act  of  necessity  as 
spokesmen  for  their  parents,  and  often  end  by  look 
ing  down  on  their  elders  and  dominating  in  the 
household, — a  dangerous  state  of  affairs.  Hence 
any  disparagement  of  parental  customs  by  teach 
ers  or  social  workers  is  very  unwise,  while  any  at 
tempt  to  teach  the  Italian  language  to  the  young 
is  exceedingly  valuable  in  bringing  parents  and  chil 
dren  together.  When  a  little  Italian  girl  recently 
saw  the  undisguised  admiration  of  Americans  for  the 


76  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

beautiful  handiwork  of  her  mother  who  had  been 
persuaded  to  lend  it  for  an  exhibition,  her  mother 
rose  greatly  in  her  estimation.  Community  affairs 
for  example  under  the  auspices  of  the  public  schools 
greatly  help.  Wise  indeed  is  the  increasing  effort 
to-day  to  minister  to  the  members  of  the  Italian  fam 
ily  as  a  unit,  on  the  part  of  social  institutions.  The 
efforts  of  the  Young  Women's  Christian  Associa 
tion,  in  its  thirty-seven  International  Institutes,  to 
serve  the  less  accessible  mothers  of  Italian  families, 
and  the  fine-spirited  and  helpful  pamphlet  publica 
tions  issued  by  it  for  them  and  other  immigrant 
women,  are  eminently  valuable. 

Intermarriage. — What  a  splendid  asset  to  the 
United  States  is  the  second  generation  of  Italian 
stock.  In  1915,  roughly,  22  per  cent  of  the  children 
born  in  Connecticut,  20  per  cent  of  all  born  in  New 
York  State  and  Rhode  Island,  nearly  12  per  cent 
of  all  born  in  Massachusetts  and  9  per  cent  of  all 
born  in  Pennsylvania  had  an  Italian  father.7  It  is 
difficult  to  follow  them  as  a  separate  group.  Yet 
some  things  we  know  of  them.  It  has  been  observed 
of  them  that  many  belong  to  a  detached  group, 
"neither  really  Italians  nor  yet  Americans. "  8  The 
predominating  element  in  the  lodges  of  the  Sons  of 
Italy,  which  are  broadly  typical  of  the  Italian  popu 
lation,  is  said  to  be  the  young  man  born  in  Italy, 
but  emigrating  to  the  United  States  while  not  yet 
too  old  to  be  greatly  Americanized.  We  have  seen 
how  often  the  children  of  Italian  parents, — particu 
larly  the  young  children  of  the  family, — scorn  their 
parents,  because  they  have  imbibed  the  scorn  for 
the  "Dago"  around  them.  We  know  next  to  noth 
ing  of  the  facts  concerning  intermarriage  with  other 

7U.  S.  Bureau  of  Census,  Birth  Statistics  for  the  Registration 
Area  of  U.  S.,  1915,  1st  Annual  Report,  p.  56. 

8  Remark  of  Rev.  F.  G.  Urbano,  of  Grace  Chapel,  New  York, 
quoted  by  Mangano. 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  SOCIAL  CONDITIONS      77 

races.  There  seems  to  be  little  intermarriage  of 
Italian  girls  with  other  young  men,  but  on  the  other 
hand,  due  perhaps  to  the  more  rigorous  conditions 
of  courtship  surrounding  Italian  girls,  Italian 
young  men  frequently  marry  girls  of  other  nation 
alities  whom  they  meet  in  the  freer  contacts  of 
American  life.  Thus  a  tendency  to  marry  Jewesses 
in  New  York  City  has  been  noted.9  Many  of  our 
ablest  Italian  pastors  have  American  wives.  A 
school  principal  highly  praised  the  children  of  mixed 
Italian  and  Swedish  stock  to  be  found  in  one  of  our 
cities.  And  the  writer  was  assured  that  at  Ham- 
monton,  New  Jersey,  where  the  development  of  the 
Italian  families  is  rapidly  making  them  one  with 
the  rest  of  the  population,  mixed  marriages  were 
being  celebrated  every  day.  Doubtless  this  is  true 
throughout  the  country  of  small  colonies  and  scat 
tered  families,  thoroughly  Americanized  or  closely 
tied  up  with  the  general  population.10 

Delinquency  and  crime. — It  is  the  children  of  Ital 
ians,  rather  than  the  older  immigrant  generation, 
who  show  a  disproportionate  percentage  of  delin 
quency  and  crime.  And  of  these,  it  is  not  the  girls 
who  err — for  they  have  an  excellent  record — but 
the  boys.  Over  and  above  the  dissolving  of  parental 
control,  the  abnormality  or  subnormality  which  the 
Italian  standard  of  life  produces  in  some,  and  the 
lack  of  pocket  money,  the  usual  training  of  the 
street  leads  on  the  Italian  boy  with  his  strong  racial 
traits  into  delinquency  and  crime.  The  idea  of 
American  life  with  which  the  youth  is  imbued  is 
superficial  and  garish  if  not  bad.  The  worst  dis 
tricts  of  American  cities  where  vice,  drunkenness, 
theft,  and  disregard  for  law  flourish  are  usually 
alongside  of  the  Italian  quarter.  Crap-shooting 

9  Immigration  Journal,  Sept.,  1916,  pp.  88  f . 

10  Mariano,  The  Italian  Contribution  to  American  Democracy,  a 
painstaking  and  exhaustive  study  of  Americans  of  Italian  descent. 


78  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

gives  an  early  introduction  to  the  national  Italian 
vice  of  gambling.  Fruit-stands  invite  theft.  The 
war  of  the  police  against  games  in  the  street  and 
the  movies  and  bill-boards  suggest  questionable 
programs  to  the  boys'  gangs,  which  go  from  bad  to 
worse  until  they  become  the  gangsters  of  the  "East 
Side'7  of  the  cities,  fit  material  out  of  which  to  make 
thugs,  blackmailers  and  white-slavers.  Although 
New  York  State  has  a  huge  Italian  population,  and 
perhaps  of  no  extraordinary  criminal  tendency, 
there  are  from  300  to  450  inmates  of  Italian  stock 
among  the  1200  total  at  the  state  prison  at  Auburn. 
As  they  are  largely  young  men,  the  natural  deduc 
tion  is  that  they  must  be  either  young  immi 
grants  from  Italy  gone  wrong  from  their  undisci 
plined  passions,  or  native-born  delinquent  sons  of 
immigrants. 

The  great  mass  of  the  Italian-American  popula 
tion,  unquestionably  industrious,  sober  and  trust 
worthy,  is  erroneously  judged  by  the  public  on  ac 
count  of  the  spectacular  or  violent  nature  of  Ital 
ian  crime.  Only  0.6  of  north  Italians  and  only  0.8 
of  south  Italians  per  1,000  admitted,  a  low  percen 
tage  in  comparison  with  other  immigrant  nationali 
ties,  were  deported  or  debarred  from  the  United 
States  because  of  crime.11  The  report  of  the  Chi 
cago  Council  Committee  on  Crime  states  that  "in 
convictions  for  both  felonies  and  misdemeanors  the 
various  foreigners  show  almost  a  smaller  percentage 
of  convictions  than  their  proportion  of  the  popula 
tion  entitles  them  to  have"  and  that  "the  Italians 
show  an  excess  of  one-tenth  of  one  per  cent  in  con 
victions  and  this  is  surely  so  small  as  to  be  negligi 
ble."12  Italians  are  guilty  of  crimes  against  the 
person  rather  than  against  property,  and  these  are 

11  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  General  of  Immigra 
tion,  1914,  pp.  105  and  108. 

12  Quoted,  Abbott,  p.  112. 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  SOCIAL  CONDITIONS      79 

" usually  due  to  drink,  cards  and  women."13  They 
could  be  greatly  reduced,  were  justice  meted  out  to 
every  criminal  and  were  political  influence  abolished 
from  the  judge's  bench. 

The  Black  Hand. — In  the  Black  Hand  outrages 
certain  salient  features  of  the  Camorra  of  Naples 
and  of  the  Mafia  of  Sicily  have  been  imported  into 
America.  The  occurrence  of  these  has  been  due, 
according  to  one  familiar  with  the  problem,  to  the 
failure  of  our  immigration  laws  to  take  advantage 
of  opportunity  Italy  gives  of  keeping  out  the  Ital 
ian  criminal  more  than  they  have  hitherto  done ;  it 
has  also  been  due  to  lack  of  respect  for  the  adminis 
tration  of  our  criminal  law.  The  principals  in  such 
outrages  are  sometimes  criminals  from  Italy,  but 
more  often  are  Americans  of  Italian  blood  trained 
up  in  the  school  of  the  gang.  Italian  detectives  are 
of  great  value  in  the  perfectly  feasible  proposition 
of  eradicating  this  sort  of  crime,  but  not  while  the 
Italian  criminal  finds  way  of  entrance  and  is  "con 
vinced  that  America  is  not  only  the  country  of  lib 
erty  but  of  license — to  commit  crime. ' ' 14 

The  passion  to  get  ahead. — The  Italians  come  to 
America  with  certain  prepossessions  and  aspira 
tions.  One  of  them,  a  man  of  some  thoughtfulness, 
said,  "What  the  Italians  want  is  a  chance  and  a 
guide."  Their  motives  are  to  make  a  living,  to  save, 
and  in  a  large  number  of  cases  to  return  to  Italy. 
They  are  ignorant  and  finding  themselves  exploited, 
soon  become  reserved  and  perhaps  suspicious.  They 
themselves  generally,  and  certainly  their  children, 
soon  catch  the  American  spirit  of  '  '  getting  ahead, ' ' 
that  is,  gaining  wealth  and  position.  Undeveloped 
brains  do  not  signify  lack  of  native  intelligence. 
Their  passions  are  strong.  They  are  well  disposed 

13Mangano,  p.  106. 

14  "Train,"  Courts,  Criminals  and  the  Camorra,  Chapter  IX, 
quotation,  p.  245. 


80  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

to  America,  and  in  view  of  the  common  bitter  ex 
perience,  it  is  remarkable  how  the  great  majority 
retain  this  spirit.  As  the  Italian  is  an  individualist 
by  nature  and  by  circumstance,  it  is  necessary  to  de 
velop  in  him  a  conception  of  team  work  or  of  com 
munity  service.  He  readily  responds  to  sympathy 
and  to  such  ideals  as  are  not  abstract  and  do  not  go 
too  far  afield.  He  wants  to  know  the  American  peo 
ple,  but  his  reaction  to  them  is  primarily  on  the  basis 
of  feeling,  sentiment,  emotion,  which,  after  all,  is  the 
common  world  language. 

First  ideals  in  politics. — In  his  relation  then  to 
the  American  people,  the  Italian  immigrant  comes 
not  consciously  to  accept  broader  ideas  and  ideals, 
but  asking  of  a  generous  nation  an  opportunity  to 
make  a  living.  His  development  leads  him  to  adapt 
himself  at  first  only  to  the  spiritual  environment  in 
so  far  as  it  affects  his  economic  condition,  but  after 
wards  his  active  intelligence  makes  him  one  of  the 
best  of  candidates  for  Americanization.  The  clay  is 
plastic  and  we  make  or  mar  it  largely  as  we  will. 
Jacob  Eiis  draws  a  lively  picture  of  him,  in  his  first 
years:  "He  is  clannish,  this  Italian;  he  gambles 
and  uses  a  knife,  though  rarely  on  anybody  not  of 
his  own  people ;  he  takes  what  he  can  get,  wherever 
anything  is  free,  as  who  would  not,  coming  to  the 
feast  like  a  starved  wolf?  There  is  nothing  free 
where  he  came  from.  He  buys  fraudulent  natural 
ization  papers  and  uses  them.  Gambling  is  his  be 
setting  sin.  He  is  sober,  industrious,  frugal,  endur 
ing  beyond  belief,  but  he  will  gamble  on  Sunday  and 
quarrel  over  his  cards,  and  when  he  sticks  his  part 
ner  in  the  heat  of  the  quarrel,  the  partner  is  not 
apt  to  tell.  Yet  there  is  evidence  that  the  old  ven 
detta  is  being  shelved,  and  a  new  idea  of  law  and 
justice  is  breaking  through.  .  .  .  Our  Italian  is  not 
dull.  ...  A  dollar  a  day  for  the  shovel ;  two  dollars 
for  the  shovel  with  the  citizen  behind  it.  And  he 


THK  WALL  OF  TERMOLI,  ON  THE  ADRIATIC 


CARUNCHIO,  TYPICAL  HILLTOP  TOWN 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  SOCIAL  CONDITIONS      81 

takes  the  papers  and  the  two  dollars.  He  came 
here  for  a  chance  to  live.  Of  politics,  social  ethics, 
he  knows  nothing.  .  .  .  Why  should  he  not  attach 
himself  with  his  whole  loyal  soul  to  the  plan  of  gov 
ernment  in  his  new  home  that  offers  to  boost  him 
into  the  place  of  his  wildest  ambition,  a  '  job  on  the 
streets,7 — that  is,  in  the  Street  Cleaning  Depart 
ment, — and  asks  no  other  return  than  that  he  shall 
vote  as  directed !  .  .  .  Here,  ready-made  to  the  hand 
of  the  politician,  is  such  material  as  he  never  saw 
before.  For  Pietro  's  loyalty  is  great. ' ' 15 

Later  evolution. — These  words  were  penned 
twenty  years  ago  and  since  then  New  York  City  has 
had  a  Congressman,  a  president  of  the  Board  of 
Aldermen  and  acting  Mayor  of  Italian  blood,  and 
has  now  a  State  Senator,  three  assemblymen,  one 
judge  of  the  City  Court,  one  of  General  Sessions, 
one  of  Special  Sessions,  and  one  city  magistrate. 
The  City  of  Philadelphia  has  an  assistant  city  at 
torney  of  that  race;  Rhode  Island  a  group  of  state 
legislators  from  Providence;  the  presidents  of  the 
boards  of  education  of  Newark,  N.  J.,  and  New 
Haven,  Conn.;  the  sheriff  of  New  Haven,  Conn.;  a 
police  court  judge,  and  the  secretary  to  the  mayor 
of  Hartford,  Conn.;  the  assistant  city  prosecutor, 
and  one  of  the  probation  officers  of  Cleveland,  Ohio, 
are  of  Italian  blood.  Such  scattered  instances  could 
be  multiplied  many  times  wherever  Italian  stock  is 
numerous  or  Americanized.  They  indicate  the  in 
creasingly  commanding  place  Italians  are  taking  in 
American  political  life.  The  practice  of  law  is  a 
field  attractive  to  the  immigrant  or  his  son  who  has 
sufficient  education  to  compete  in  American  life; 
the  American-born  of  Italian  blood  is  well  repre 
sented  in  the  law  schools.  The  influence  of  these 
new  Americans  in  politics  is  becoming  more  worthy, 

15  Riis,  A  Ten  Years'  War,  pp.  113,  114. 


82  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

beginning  with  the  sordid  practices  of  the  ward  poli 
tician,  already  hinted  at,  up  through  the  egoism  of 
the  business  man  or  self-made  man  using  public  of 
fice  for  his  own  purposes  or  ambitions,  perhaps  the 
too  common  type  among  them  to-day,  to  a  few  but 
growing  number  who  to-day  feel  the  sense  of  civic 
responsibility  and  the  obligation  to  serve. 

A  type. — In  one  of  our  larger  cities  there  is  a 
man  of  great  cleverness,  an  outstanding  example  of 
the  common  type,  who  has  graduated  through  all 
the  stages  of  cicerone,  lemon-vendor,  undertaker, 
coal-dealer,  banker,  real  estate  agent  and  proprietor 
of  an  Italian  newspaper,  L' Opinions.  Among  the 
Italians  he  has  passed  for  a  Roman  Catholic;  in  the 
American  residential  district  where  he  lives,  he  is 
a  member  of  a  Protestant  church.  He  has  been  so 
able  to  capitalize  his  reputation,  without  holding 

freat  office,  as  to  be  the  colonial  boss,  so  that  no 
talian  considered  that  he  could  accomplish  any 
thing  without  coming  to  him  or  any  American  get 
in  touch  with  the  Italian  colony  without  recourse  to 
his  influence.  Although  evidently  his  first  thought 
is  for  himself,  he  himself  really  believes  that  he  is 
giving  his  life  for  his  people.  It  may  be  said  that 
another  faction,  enthusiastic  over  Americanism,  is 
fighting  his  leadership  with  the  definite  slogan,  and 
perhaps  ideal,  of  disinterested  community  service. 

Attitude  toward  organized  labor. — Another  sig 
nificant  relationship  to  the  American  people  is  in 
the  field  of  organized  labor.  The  Italian  immigrant, 
because  of  his  desire  to  work  anywhere  and  for  any 
wage,  his  individualism,  his  small  understanding  of 
team  work,  was  at  first  persona  non  grata  to  organ 
ized  labor,  drawing  upon  himself  from  labor,  and 
so  from  the  public,  the  derisive  names  of  "wop," 
' '  guinea, ' '  and  l  '  dago. ' '  While  green  he  had  a  bitter 
experience  as  a  strike-breaker  and  learned  to  avoid 
such  labor.  He  has  little  understood  labor  solidar- 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  SOCIAL  CONDITIONS      83 

ity,  and  has  abominated  strikes,  and  hence  labor 
organizations  have  sought  legislation  restricting  his 
coming.  Yet  with  a  few  years  of  residence  in  Amer 
ica  this  is  a  form  of  combination  in  which  he  makes 
rapid  progress,  the  one-time  peasant  and  southern 
Italian  attaining  the  point  of  view  widely  held  by 
the  labor  classes  in  Italy,  or  by  the  far  more  ad 
vanced  northern  Italian  here.  Strikes  in  which 
Italians  participated  became  increasingly  numerous 
in  the  pre-war  years ;  and  during  the  war  years  with 
the  tremendous  enhancement  of  the  bargaining 
power  of  labor,  Italians  have  taken  an  aggressive 
part  in  them.  Social  workers  among  them  say  that 
they  are  exploiting  this  power  to  a  great  degree,  and 
one  familiar  with  conditions  in  Chicago  ventured  to 
assert  that  practically  all  Italian  labor  there  was 
unionized. 

As  viewed  by  employers. — Employers  on  their 
part  have  generally  given  praise  to  the  Italian  im 
migrant,  finding  him  willing,  industrious,  tractable, 
and  generally  realizing  that  to  him  have  been  due  the 
prodigies  of  toil  which  the  expansion  of  industry 
and  transportation  has  asked  of  the  manual  laborer. 
Where  the  man  has  been  considered  rather  than  the 
hand,  they  have  recognized  his  great  contribution  to 
the  national  wealth,  have  reflected  upon  the  cost 
in  blood  and  toil,  and  have  candidly  asked  themselves 
whether  these  workers  have  had  their  fair  return 
economically  and  socially  for  the  part  which  they 
have  played. 

Evolved  and  Americanized. — There  are  innu 
merable  individuals,  and  there  are  communities 
where  Italians  have  ceased  to  be  regarded  as  such, 
and  the  distinction  of  race  has  ceased  to  be  felt.  In 
fact,  there  are  many,  born  here  or  of  a  sufficiently 
remote  date  of  coming,  who  in  their  persons  demon 
strate  that,  once  having  learned  American  habits, 
the  Italians  are  quick  to  amalgamate  with  the  gen- 


84  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

eral  population.  Indeed  it  is  somewhat  of  a  defect 
of  Americanized  Italians  to  abandon  contact  with 
the  majority  of  their  race  and  to  confine  business 
relationships  and  seek  residence  as  completely  as 
possible  among  Americans.  There  are  churches 
among  Italians  which  have  dropped  the  Italian 
name,  and  American  congregations  of  Italian  de 
scent.  Notably  in  the  agricultural  colonies  sur 
rounded  by  Americans,  while  the  older  people  con 
tinue  unabs orbed  till  the  end,  the  youth  are  one  with 
their  American  comrades.  "In  Genoa,  Wisconsin, 
for  example,  one  of  the  older  Italian  agricultural 
settlements  in  the  United  States,  the  farmers  have 
quite  ceased  to  be  deemed  Italians  by  their  neigh 
bors.  There  has  been,  in  all  such  cases  as  this,  no 
catastrophic  change  .  .  .  but  gradually  in  the  clear 
est  instances  such  an  awakening  of  personality,  such 
an  unfolding  of  competence,  specialized  or  general, 
as  fills  observers  with  wonderment."16 


Part  II 

EDUCATIONAL!   FORCES 

Malign  educational  forces. — All  social  conditions 
amid  which  our  Italian-Americans  live  are  forces 
educating  for  good  or  bad.  Certain  liberal  elements 
are  far  more  easily  reached  by  evangelical  missions 
in  the  days  immediately  following  their  arrival  in 
America  than  after  they  acquire  that  attitude  so 
common  among  us  that  one  may  do  very  well  with 
out  any  church  connection  whatever.  What  is  the 
educational  effect  upon  the  Italian  whose  experience 
has  been  in  the  "school  of  hard  knocks"  and  who 
is  chiefly  familiar  with  the  seamy  side  of  American 

16  Foerster,  p.  444. 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  SOCIAL  CONDITIONS      85 

institutions?  The  doors  of  American  homes  have 
not  always  been  open  even  to  immigrants  of  culture 
and  of  character;  they  have  not  always  been  wel 
comed  by  the  average  American  church  congrega 
tion;  if  artistic  workmen,  they  have  often  found 
themselves  misfits  in  our  machine  industry ;  and  un 
til  recently  little  attention  has  been  paid  to  any 
broad  or  systematic  program  of  practical  instruc 
tion  in  American  life  and  aspiration.  Race  preju 
dice,  exclusiveness,  scorn  for  things  Italian,  patron 
age  and  discourtesy  such  as  would  be  shown  to  no 
one  else  save  an  immigrant,  what  new-comer  from 
Italy  has  not  encountered  some  or  all  of  these 
things?  The  tale  of  exploitation  on  every  hand  we 
have  partially  told.  What  characters  will  the  im 
migrant  probably  meet,  some  of  whom  want  to  meet 
him?  The  cursing  boss  or  exacting  padrone,  the 
saloon-keeper,  the  .gambler,  the  vote-buying  poli 
tician,  the  shyster  lawyer,  the  quack  doctor,  the 
panderer,  the  dealer  in  worthless  investments,  the 
poorest  types  of  American  womanhood,  the  hostile 
workman,  the  recruiter  for  the  I.  W.  W.,  and  the 
host  of  those  who  jeer  the  "wop"  or  the  "dago." 
Can  he  be  blamed  if  in  his  ignorance  of  America  he 
fails  to  distinguish  between  such  "exploiters"  and 
the  real  American  people?  The  welcome  America 
has  usually  given  to  the  new-comer  is  thorny. 
Reticence,  suspicion,  sophistication,  sordid  aims, 
egoism,  scorn  for  America,  an  exploiting  spirit  in 
his  turn,  are  habits  of  mind  to  which  the  immigrant 
very  naturally  becomes  heir.  If  in  spite  of  all  this 
the  average  Italian  immigrant  becomes  attached  to 
America,  what  reserves  of  loyalty  and  moral  power 
might  he  not  have  developed  over  and  above  what 
he  has,  had  he  been  met  by  the  square  deal  and  a 
forceful  but  sympathetic  training,  such  as  we  hope 
that  further  generations  of  Italian  immigrants  may 
enjoy. 


86  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

The  public  school. — Let  us  turn  then  to  a  review 
of  those  positive  educational  forces  the  exceeding 
value  of  which  the  words .  just  written  are  not  in 
tended  to  minimize.  The  children  of  Italian  fami 
lies  are  numerous  and  therefore  the  influence  of 
that  justly  vaunted  American  institution,  the  public 
school,  can  hardly  be  overestimated.  A  fine  thing 
is  the  affection  in  which  the  Italian-American  par 
ents  hold  the  school  and  its  teachers.  They  are 
eager  that  their  children  should  have  the  best  that 
it  offers.  The  children  are  quick  and  apt  pupils, 
and  frequently  lead  their  classes.  The  schools  and 
their  teachers,  often  more  than  the  home  itself,  are 
in  a  position  to  mold  the  ideals  and  characters  of 
these  children.  How  important  it  is,  then,  that  both 
should  be  of  such  quality  as  to  furnish  both  the 
moral  and  intellectual  background  needed,  and  the 
wisdom  to  take  advantage  of  special  racial  traits. 
Although  some  schools  fail  in  this  aim,  there  are 
fortunately  many  schools  that  meet  this  standard. 
A  common  defect  has  been  to  make  a  gap  between 
parents  and  children  through  ill-concealed  dislike 
for  Italian  customs,  and  failure  to  appreciate  Ital 
ian  history.  Some  teachers  have  demonstrated  a 
special  skill  with  the  classes  of  new-comers.  In 
many  schools  there  is  coming  to  be  a  percentage  of 
teachers  of  Italian  blood,  teaching  being  a  profes 
sion  which  appeals  to  many  Italian  girls,  and  at 
least  one  Italian  public  school  principal  has  risen 
to  a  degree  of  fame  through  his  organization  of  the 
school. 

Parochial  schools. — There  seems  to  be  a  wide  dif 
ference,  according  to  locality,  in  the  attendance  of 
Italian  children  at  parochial  schools.  In  many 
places  they  are  few,  in  an  occasional  locality  they 
are  numerous.  The  general  attitude  of  the  Italian 
immigrant,  who  has  been  used  to  secular  education 
as  a  function  of  the  state  in  Italy,  is  against  send- 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  SOCIAL  CONDITIONS       87 

ing  his  children  to  the  parochial  schools,  but  there 
may  be  local  factors  which  change  his  attitude  and 
practice.  According  to  the  Immigration  Commis 
sion,  in  24  cities,  10,640  South  Italian  children  were 
only  0.8  per  cent  of  all  pupils  in  parochial  schools, 
the  Irish  having  26.2  per  cent. ir  But  the  order  of 
St.  Francis  is  establishing  and  conducting  such 
schools  among  Italians  all  over  the  country,  the  aim 
being  to  inculcate  the  Catholic  faith,  and  to  preserve 
"L'ltalianita."  The  teaching  is  partly  in  Italian, 
by  Italian  monks  or  sisters.  The  result  is  to  retard 
assimilation  and  to  perpetuate  foreign  colonies  in 
our  cities,  as  alien  in  habits  of  thought  as  newly 
arrived  immigrants,  although  these  children  were 
born  in  America. 18 

Italian  children  in  advanced  schools.— The  de 
plorable  custom  of  Italian-American  parents  of 
withdrawing  their  children  from  school  at  the  mini 
mum  legal  age  in  order  to  send  them  to  work, — a 
custom  only  partly  justifiable  upon  the  plea  of  eco 
nomic  necessity, — has  resulted  in  a  small  attendance 
of  their  children  in  high  schools  and  other  institu 
tions  of  higher  learning.  There  are  9,000  Italian- 
American  children  out  of  28,000  registered  pupils  in 
the  elementary  schools  of  New  Haven,  Conn.  There 
are  five  times  as  many  Italian  children  as  Russian 
(including  Jewish)  in  these  schools,  but  in  the  high 
school  five  times  as  many  Eussians  as  Italians. 
However,  this  situation  improves  slowly  with  the 
general  uplift  of  Italian  colonies,  while  many  Ital 
ian  children  are  perseveringly  attending  evening 
schools  of  various  sorts.  It  has  also  been  claimed 
that  Italian  children,  notable  for  their  brightness  in 
elementary  schools,  stop  short  in  mental  ability  with 
higher  studies  demanding  greater  application.  The 
truth  is  probably  that  they  have  small  encourage- 

17  Foerster,  p.  395,  note. 

18  Mangano,  p.  139. 


88  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

ment  and  no  place  to  study  in  quiet  in  their  crowded 
homes.  In  1920,  out  of  10,000  pupils  taking  college 
entrance  examinations  sent  out  by  the  National 
Board,  the  student  to  win  first  place  was  an  Italian- 
American  of  Hartford,  Conn.,  a  youth  prominent  in 
many  high  school  intellectual  activities. 

Literature. — The  rank  and  file  of  Italian- Ameri 
cans  is  not  a  reading  public  on  account  of  their  un 
lettered  origin.  They  read  newspapers  more  than 
books.  The  book  store  is  the  least  of  their  institu 
tions,  being  usually  a  neglected  department  of  a 
jewelry  store  or  a  job  printing  establishment.  It 
may  have  a  few  copies  of  Manzoni  or  De  Amicis, 
useful  to  keep  up  the  Italian  of  an  occasional  child; 
for  the  rest  its  stock  consists  of  opera  scores,  and 
novels  of  the  sensational  and  dime  novel  sort.  Nat 
urally  the  children  who  read  prefer  American  books. 

Libraries. — Some  of  our  public  libraries  have  be 
gun  to  make  modest  collections  of  Italian  books, 
especially  those  where  the  sympathy  for  American 
ization  is  keenest.  For  some  years  the  New  York 
City  public  library  has  had  a  good  Italian  depart 
ment  and  has  especially  featured  Italian  books  at 
its  branches  near  Italian  colonies.  A  movement  is 
on  foot  to  establish  an  Italian  library  of  the  first 
order  at  Columbia  University,  for  the  housing  of 
which  appropriate  space  has  been  promised  by  the 
university  authorities. 

Italian  newspapers. — The  first  daily  Italian  news 
paper  was  founded  in  1882. 19  The  demand  for  pa 
pers  has  resulted  in  attempts  to  establish  them  in 
many  places,  usually  on  a  weekly  basis,  most  of 
which  have  failed.  There  are  26  Italian  newspapers 
printed  in  New  York  City,  9  in  Philadelphia,  9  in 
San  Francisco,  8  in  Chicago  and  4  in  Pittsburgh,  182 
secular  and  9  religious  weeklies  and  dailies  through- 

«Foerster,p.  331. 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  SOCIAL  CONDITIONS      89 

out  the  country. 20  Editorially  the  secular  papers 
are  of  no  great  value.  Much  space  is  given  to  ad 
vertisements  of  quack  doctors  and  fake  medicines, 
and  in  the  past  they  have  devoted  too  much  atten 
tion  to  reporting  crime. 21  They  make  much  of  poli 
tics,  sometimes  with  no  consistent  attachment  to 
one  party.  In  short,  there  has  hitherto  been  held 
no  high  ideal  of  their  mission.  Their  sentiments 
have  often  been  un-American,  and  their  best  devo 
tion  has  been  given  to  Italy,  and  affairs  which  would 
glorify  her  whether  here  or  abroad. 

However,  the  fact  chiefly  evident  is  the  absolute 
necessity  of  these  papers  to  their  people,  and  the 
consequent  unlimited  opportunity  which  they  afford 
for  sympathetic  presentation  of  the  meaning  and 
ideals  of  America.  Some  of  the  Italian  papers  are 
rapidly  catching  this  tone.  There  is  a  worthy  fu 
ture  in  this  line  for  such  widely  circulated  papers 
as  11  Progresso  Italo-Italiano  of  New  York,  with 
50,000  circulation,  or  for  La  Voce  del  Popolo 
Italiano  of  Cleveland,  with  30,000  circulation 
throughout  the  Middle  States,  while  the  project  of 
publishing  a  bilingual  paper  after  the  best  ideals  of 
American  journals  such  as  is  on  foot  in  Philadel 
phia  should  be  encouraged.  Besides  newspapers, 
there  are  several  weeklies  and  monthlies  of  an  ethi 
cal  and  patriotic  type,  devoting  themselves  to  scien 
tific,  economic  and  literary  subjects,  and  in  some 
instances  aiming  at  the  reform  of  the  press  and  the 
elevation  of  Italian- American  life.  Also  a  consid 
erable  number  of  American  newspapers,  the  country 
over,  recognizing  their  large  and  increasing  Italian- 
American  clientele,  publish  columns  or  a  page  in 
Italian. 

Leaders. — It  is  difficult  to  estimate  the  extent  of 

20  Coulter,  The  Italians  of  Cleveland,  pamphlet  of  American 
ization  Committee,  p.  40. 

21  Shriver,  Immigrant  Forces,  p.  227. 


90  ,  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

real  leadership  among  Italian-Americans.  A  very 
genuine  development  along  political  lines  we  have 
already  noted.  The  rising  caliber  of  the  Protestant 
ministry  among  them  will  be  considered  in  its 
proper  place.  Undoubtedly  a  great  and  widespread 
educational  force  which  is  producing  its  own  lead 
ers  (not  merely  importing  them  from  Europe)  is 
the  musical  field.  Italians  organize  and  man  hun 
dreds  of  bands  throughout  the  country.  They  are 
managing  and  financing  great  operatic  ventures, 
and  likewise  theatrical  and  moving-picture  projects. 
Some  of  the  stars  of  the  Metropolitan  Grand  Opera 
were  daughters  of  Italian  immigrant  families. 
Many  of  the  highest  class  sculptors,  artists,  photog 
raphers,  and  architects  are  coming  to  be  of  Ital 
ian  immigrant  blood,  as  the  race  asserts  its  artistic 
heritage. 

An  estimate  of  leadership. — But  of  the  leadership 
of  Italian-Americans  in  organizing  and  uplifting 
their  own  people,  less  can  be  said.  In  part  at  least 
this  is  due  to  racial  origin  and  the  degree  of  develop 
ment.  Less  than  a  decade  ago  a  rather  pessimistic 
picture  was  drawn  of  the  leadership  prevalent 
among  them.  With  the  southern  Italian  immigrants 
in  mind,  it  was  said  of  them  that  while  of  all  races 
the  most  jealous  of  their  leaders  they  were  the  most 
leaderless.  As  conspicuous  individualists,  as  soon 
as  a  man  demonstrated  a  degree  of  ability,  they  dis 
trusted  and  deposed  him.  Among  them  there  were 
no  leaders  or  large  organizations.  At  that  time  the 
group  of  lodges  of  the  Sons  of  Italy  was  criticized  as 
a  society  for  talk  and  a  joke,  having  no  outstanding 
leaders.  Business  and  professional  leaders  were 
slowly  coming  to  the  front  but  were  apt  to  drift  out 
of  vital  touch  with  their  people.  Neither  press  nor 
church  was  leading  the  people.  " Leaderless  in  any 
large  way,  yet  deluged  with  petty  leaders  of  or 
ganizations  .  .  .  with  a  love  of  democracy  and  free- 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  SOCIAL  CONDITIONS      9H 

dom  growing  within  them,  they  are  at  present  in  a 
plastic  state  that  demands  a  wise  and  firm  touch  to 
mold  them  into  ways  of  constructive  growth."22 

The  above  estimate  seems  to  have  been  severe  but 
true.  Italian- Americans  delight  to  organize,  but  in 
matters  of  administration,  the  fifty-seven  varieties 
of  opinion,  all  of  which  insist  upon  being  heard, 
cause  the  organization  to  languish  and  fade  away. 
The  lack  of  success  of  pastors  with  men's  clubs  in 
Italian  missions  confirms  this  idea  and  the  experi 
ence  of  an  able  consular  officer  who  said  that  he 
with  other  racial  leaders  had  tried  repeatedly  to 
form  charitable  and  welfare  agencies  in  his  colony, 
and  had  uniformly  failed  because  of  divisions  and 
jealousies,  is  typical.  Out  of  the  pressure  of  the 
war,  however,  has  come  a  degree  of  education  in 
leadership,  or  perhaps,  even  more,  on  the  part  of 
the  population,  an  acceptance  of  the  necessity  of 
leadership  and  cooperation. 

Growth  of  leadership. — In  stimulating  this  spirit, 
wise  Americanization  leaders  are  finding  one  of 
their  chief  functions,  while  the  existence  of  myriads 
of  clubs,  under  direction  and  parliamentary  usage 
in  settlements  and  community  centers,  is  distinctly 
valuable.  The  developing  growth  and  efficiency  of 
the  "Figli  d 'Italia" — Sons  of  Italy — now  numbering 
125,000  members  and  1,000  lodges  responsible  to  the 
grand  lodge  and  committed  to  a  progressive  pro 
gram  of  Americanization,  is  a  favorable  index  of 
growth  in  leadership. 

Among  Italian-Americans  who  are  occupying 
prominent  positions  of  leadership  in  the  United 
States,  a  notable  group  have  been  at  one  time 
students  of  the  International  College,  formerly  the 
French-American  College  of  Springfield,  Mass. 
This  school  has  done  a  great  service  for  them 

22  Archibald  McClure,  Leadership  in  the  New  America.  Chap 
ter  XII. 


92  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

among  other  nationalities  in  encouraging  them  to  go 
on  to  further  study  and  preparation  elsewhere,  and 
has  succeeded  in  inspiring  a  goodly  number  with 
genuine  ideals  of  racial  service  and  leadership.  Of 
those  already  in  their  work,  3  are  doctors,  8  are  law 
yers,  of  whom  two  or  three  occupy  influential  public 
positions,  4  are  professors  in  higher  institutions,  one 
is  a  rising  sculptor,  9  are  ministers  and  3  are  spe 
cifically  engaged  in  Americanization  work,  one  as  a 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  secretary,  one  as  secretary  of  the  North- 
American  League  for  Immigrants,  and  one  as  head 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Kailrpad  School  of  Instruction, 
teaching  English  and  citizenship  to  4,307  Italian 
employees. 

Forces  of  assimilation. — We  reach,  at  this  point, 
the  consideration  of  those  forces  at  work  in  assimila 
tion  of  the  Italian  immigrant,  which  the  broad  pro 
gram  of  Americanization  of  to-day  takes  into  ac 
count.  Both  on  account  of  the  social  qualities  of  the 
race  and  on  account  of  their  leadership  needs  -jew^ 
emphasized,  no  immigrant  people  have  been  so  sus 
ceptible  to  American  efforts  to  lead  them.  None 
have  been  so  sensitive  to  mistakes  of  attitude  and 
practice,  and  none  have  been  so  appreciative  when 
the  right  chord  has  been  struck.  To  none  has  the 
Statue  of  Liberty,' itself  a  product  of  an  Italian 
mind,  raised  higher  hopes;  in  none  has  the  treat 
ment  received  at  Ellis  Island  produced  stronger  re 
action,  agreeable  or  disagreeable. 

The  point  of  view. — They  have  strongly  resented 
the  methods  of  force,  and  of  patronage.  They  have 
been  indifferent  to  plans  imposed  from  without,  en 
thusiastic  over  those  which  they  themselves  have 
worked  out  with  the  aid  of  helpful  suggestion  and 
tactful  guidance.  Americanization  preeminently 
among  Italian- Americans  is  not  solely  the  presenta 
tion  of  ideas,  which  are  likely  to  fail  of  attention, 
but  the  creation  of  a  medium  of  sympathetic  con- 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  SOCIAL  CONDITIONS      93 

tact  and  sentiment  through  which  ideas  and  ideals 
take  hold./'The  old  formal  night  school  without  a 
social  spirit,  without  a  teacher  completely  devoted, 
without  a  teaching  method  which  distinguished  be 
tween  illiterate  and  literate  pupils  in  their  own 
language,  may  have  often  started  with  full  classes 
of  Italians  eager  to  learn  practical  English,  but  as 
often  failed  before  the  end  of  the  season. 

Institutions. — Now  ample  facilities  such  as  public 
school  buildings,  and  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  the  enlistment, 
of  racial  leaders  in  recruiting  classes,  the  formation 
particularly  of  classes  in  factories  with  inducements 
by  employers ;  the  internal  organization  and  officer 
ing  of  classes,  intelligent  grading  and  instruction 
and  convenient  hours  are  attracting  thousands  of 
Italians  into  schools  for  learning  English.  Flexible 
conditions  and  friendly  interchange  of  ideas  are 
penetrating  the  isolation  of  Italian  women  and  en 
rolling  them  in  classes  in  the  home  or  wherever  they 
congregate.  And  thus  these  women  are  coming  into 
contact  with  American  women  of  the  Y.  W.  C.  A., 
of  the  churches,  of  the  schools,  or  of  the  thousand 
and  one  Women's  Clubs  and  Americanization  com 
mittees.  For  many  years  unnumbered  Italian  chil 
dren  have  been  members  of  social  settlements  which, 
when  intelligently  understood,  have  meant  much  to 
all  members  of  the  Italian  families,  especially  the 
youth  but  also  their  elders.  Certain  college  settle 
ments  have  seen  within  their  walls  members  of  the 
third  generation  and  have  never  failed  to  serve  ap 
propriately.  Boys'  clubs  and  camps,  great  and 
small,  have  coped  successfully  with  the  misdirected 
energy  of  youthful  gangs.  One  group  of  boys  organ 
ized  as  a  Castle  of  the  Knights  of  King  Arthur 
under  the  direction  of  a  man  of  radiant  personality 
later  had  an  enviable  record  of  service  and  sacrifice 
in  the  Great  War. 

The     community    idea. — Italian-Americans,     as 


94  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

might  be  expected  from  their  temperament,  have 
taken  enthusiastically  to  the  community  idea|  and 
greatly  profited  by  it;  pageants,  such  as  the  Yale 
Pageant  held  in  the  Yale  Bowl ;  community  evenings 
and  exhibitions  given  by  their  children,  for  example 
at  the  Howard  St.  School  of  Springfield,  Mass.; 
parades  as  in  Chicago  with  dozens  of  races  taking 
part  in  characteristic  costumes,  but  with  only  one 
flag;  Italian  night,  and  the  interracial  concert,  rep 
resenting  the  entire  city,  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  of  Philadelphia ;  community  dances,  as 
conducted  in  the  school  auditoriums  of  New 
Haven;  receptions  to  returned  soldiers  as  in  Cleve 
land;  the  organization  of  the  whole  community  so 
cially  as  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio.  Thus  in  group  ways 
they  have  felt  their  solidarity  with  the  American 
population.  And  where  community  affairs  have  had 
a  community  center,  such  as  many  public  schools 
have  comedo  be,  Italian- Americans  have  been  inter 
ested  attendants  at  street  or  park  concerts,  moving 
pictures,  community  " sings,"  lectures  by  members 
of  flying  squadrons  aiming  in  other  years  to  sell  Lib 
erty  Bonds,  or  promote  the  war  and  in  these  days 
to  combat  bolshevism  and  strengthen  prohibition. 
The  moving  picture  houses  liberally  patronized  by 
Italian- Americans  have  become  with  them  an  Ameri- 
canizer  of  great  power  for  good  and  for  ill. 

Protective  agencies. — Other  agencies,  state  or 
private,  combatting  the  exploiters  of  Italians,  have 
done  much  to  attach  these  immigrants  to  our  gov 
ernment,  offsetting  the  bitterness  engendered  from 
the  frauds  and  privations  they  have  had  to  endure. 
Such  are  the  Legal  Aid  bureaus,  public  employment 
bureaus  and  information  bureaus,  the  various  guides 
and  bulletins  in  English  and  Italian  freely  dis 
tributed,  American  banks  catering  to  their  patron 
age,  housing  associations  such  as  the  Octavia  Hill 
Association  in  Philadelphia,  dispensaries  and  visit- 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  SOCIAL  CONDITIONS      95 

ing  nurse  associations.  Wherever  through  organ 
izations  or  through  plain  human  intercourse,  sym 
pathetic  notice,  fairness,  courtesy,  kindness,  service> 
have  been  shown,  Italian-America  has  responded, 
and  greedily  absorbed  ideas  and  ideals  destined  to 
make  her  one  in  spirit  with  the  best  people  of  the 
land. 

Naturalization. — One  agency  of  assimilation  re-/ 
mains  to  be  spoken  of — the  exaltation  of  naturaliza-1 
tion  and  citizenship.  The  absolute  ignorance  of  the  V 
average  immigrant  of  this  last  generation  of  the 
meaning  of  vote  has  been  suggested,  his  innocent 
connivance  in  prostituting  his  citizenship  with  the 
politician  who  bought  his  vote  is  well  known.  Along 
with  it  have  gone  a  grinding  out  of  naturalization 
papers  and  the  completion  of  the  necessary  formali 
ties  with  as  little  dignity  as  at  the  taking  out  of  a 
dog  license.  Indeed  the  Italian,  used  to  dignity  in 
public  acts,  has  often  come  to  the  hour  of  his  en 
franchisement  with  heart  swelling  with  pride  and 
new-found  patriotism,  only  to  face  a  court  con 
temptuous,  indifferent  and  frankly  derisive  of  his 
act.  For  many  this  farce  is  the  only  Americaniza 
tion  they  have  known,  a  process  carried  out  at  the 
insistence  of  a  certain  public  opinion  which  has 
thought  to  rush  naturalization  and  thereafter  has 
considered  assimilation  accomplished.  Many  voices 
have  recently  been  raised  against  this  hasty  and 
thoughtless  method,  rightly  insisting  that  assimila 
tion  may  be  a  matter  of  years,  and  is  not  primarily 
a  question  of  language,  but  of  a  growing  allegiance 
of  the  heart.  Such  have  recommended  that  the 
franchise  be  given  as  a  reward  of  merit  and  accom 
plishment  and  after  a  long  period  of  time  if  neces 
sary.  23  For  the  Italian  immigrant  fully  as  much  as 
for  any  other,  Americanization  cannot  be  hurried, 

23  Gino    Speranza,    Does   Americanization    Americanize?      At 
lantic  Monthly,  February,  1920. 


96  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

Americans  can  only  guide  it  by  the  various  agencies 
above  suggested  and  strengthen  it  by  sympathy, 
democracy  and  justice.  Dr.  E.  A.  Steiner  makes 
the  theme  of  one  of  his  chapters  the  reflected  dis 
gust  for  America  and  things  American  of  an  Ital 
ian  couple  in  Rome  whose  only  son  Eocco  had  been 
here  for  some  years.  Suddenly  as  if  by  magic 
this  attitude  changed.  Their  son,  a  candidate  for 
naturalization,  had  been  one  at  a  banquet  given  to 
New  Americans,  attended  by  the  best  citizens  and 
the  authorities  of  his  American  city,  where  apprecia 
tive  words  were  said  of  the  newcomers  and  the 
American  ideals  were  made  luminous,  and  he,  their 
boy,  had  been  called  upon  to  give  his  word  as  spokes 
man  for  the  Italian  group.  With  pride,  he  whose 
faith  in  America  had  been  strained  to  the  breaking 
point,  wrote,  ' '  I  am  an  American. ' ' 2* 

It  was  in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  where  the  Italians  ap 
proximate  23,000  people, 25  that  the  first  American 
ization  Day  was  inaugurated,  to  be  followed  by 
other  cities.  To  the  candidate  for  naturalization 
from  no  other  race  is  so  vivid  an  appeal  made  to 
the  imagination  as  to  the  Italian  when  the  Fourth 
of  July  becomes  the  natal  day  of  his  citizenship  as 
well  as  of  America.  He  feels  himself  baptized  into 
allegiance  to  a  new  Fatherland. 

Racial  allegiance. — If  he  comes  to  use  English, 
which  he  realizes  is  necessary  in  order  that  through 
print  and  speech  he  may  come  nearer  the  heart  of 
America,  he  finds  it  entirely  possible  to  own  two 
allegiances — to  Italy,  country  of  his  origin,  and  to 
America,  country  of  his  adoption,  as  if  they  were 
respectively  mother  and  wife.  His  broadened  out 
look  in  America  has  perhaps  made  him  appreciate 
Italy  more,  and  that  in  turn  has  evolved  into  love 
for  America,  land  of  his  success,  land  of  his  chil- 

24  Steiner,  The  Broken  Wall,  Chapter  XIII,  p.  205. 

25  Coulter,  The  Italians  of  Cleveland,  p.  8. 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  SOCIAL  CONDITIONS      97 

dren,  land  of  his  heart  to  which,  although  he  may 
return  to  visit  native  land  and  the  ' '  hole  from  which 
he  was  digged,"  to  adapt  a  Steiner  phrase,  he  feels 
impelled  to  return  to  the  country  into  which  he  has 
built  his  life.  He  has  learned  the  American  mind, 
he  has  felt  the  call  of  America,  which  has  in  it 
money,  wages,  a  chance,  but  more  than  all  these,  a 
new  standard,  a  new  routine,  an  enlarging  sense  of 
self,26  and  if  we  have  taken  pains  to  offer  it  to  him, 
an  enlarging  sense  of  the  ideal. 

The  war  an  agency  in  Americanization. — During 
the  war  Italian  reservists  and  volunteers  returned 
to  Italy  to  fight,  before  America  came  into  the  strug 
gle.  Later  in  the  American  Army,  perhaps  300,000 
men  of  Italian  stock,  or  very  conservatively,  245,000, 
more  than  of  any  other  immigrant  nationality,  were 
enrolled.  Twenty  thousand  of  them  gave  their  lives. 
And  while  not  one  was  sentenced  for  military  crime, 
they  were  excellent  fighters  and  soldiers,  and  gar 
nered  honor  and  distinction  galore.  Their  relatives 
at  home  in  the  United  States  gave  largely,  and 
poured  out  their  means  in  Liberty  Loans  which  ap 
pealed  absolutely  both  to  their  sense  of  duty  and  of 
profit.  They  were  an  indispensable  element  in  war 
industries.  Each  Italian  colony  had  its  diversified 
record  of  service  and  sacrifice.  All  this  did  more 
to  assimilate  and  Americanize  than  many  years  of 
peace.  An  Italian  speaking  of  the  attitude  of 
Italian-American  reservists  has  said,  "To  most  of 
the  returned  immigrants  the  distinction  between 
Italian  and  American  citizenship  has  seemed  and  is 
vague  and  unreal  ...  a  legalistic  distinction. 
What  counts  with  them  is  what  they  feel."  .  .  . 
Then  after  giving  instances  of  the  common  affec 
tion  for  America,  he  concludes:  "This  is  America's 
reward  for  having  offered  every  humble  yet  adven 
turous  soul  the  longed-for  opportunity,  for  having 

26  The  Immigrant  Tide,  Its  Ebb  and  Flow,  Chapter  XII. 


98  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

tendered  a  home  and  a  refuge  to  the  disinherited  of 
every  land.  For  only  through  such  largess  could 
the  spiritual  revolution  have  been  accomplished  by 
which  the  age-old  idea  of  loyalty  to  a  racial  group 
is  converted  into  an  allegiance  of  racially  divided 
and  even  opposite  elements  to  a  Patria  representing 
essentially  human  as  distinguished  from  political 
ideals.  »27 

27  Speranza,  Outlook,  Vol.  119,  p.  105,  "Hearts'  Allegiance." 


Chapter  IV 

RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS  AMONG  ITALIAN- 
AMERICANS 

Part  I 

OLD  AND  NEW   FAITHS  AND   CHURCHES 

Transplanted  Italian  Roman  Catholicism. — In  the 

first  chapter  of  this  study  the  peasant  or  emigrating 
class  of  Italy  was  found  to  be  nominally  Koman 
Catholic,  hence  ninety-five  per  cent  of  Italian  immi 
grants  landing  at  Ellis  Island  have  called  them 
selves  Eoman  Catholics.  But  they  have  inherited  all 
the  varieties  of  defective  faith  and  practice  which 
they  have  at  home,  such  as  irregular  church  at 
tendance,  anti-clerical  hostility,  and  antipathy  to  re 
ligion  on  the  one  hand,  while  bigotry,  superstition, 
and  attachment  to  religious  conventions  if  not  reli 
gious  realities  persist  upon  the  other.  In  America 
newcomers  encounter  two  currents,  one  tending  to 
fix  them  in  their  Roman  Catholicism,  one  tending  to 
detach  them  from  it. 

Slow  Roman  Catholic  beginnings. — Roman  Ca 
tholicism  was  slow  in  providing  for  the  religious 
needs  of  the  first  comers  among  them.  One  reason 
given  for  this  neglect  has  been  the  hostility  of  the 
dominant  Irish  to  the  Italians.  The  chief  difficulty 
has  undoubtedly  been  Italian  prejudice  against 
priests,  and  unfamiliarity  with  direct  contributions 
for  church  support.  The  less  religious  element,  re 
acting  to  the  liberal  atmosphere  of  America,  has 
made  haste  to  abandon  that  irksome  relationship  to 
the  church  to  which  they  were  constrained  in  Italy. 

99 


100  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

Accustomed  to  a  church  supported  by  the  state  or 
from  its  properties,  they  have  not  wished  to  under 
stand  or  respond  to  the  necessity  for  direct  giving 
for  church  maintenance  required  in  America.  (The 
Catholic  Encyclopedia,  Article  Italians,  p.  205.) 
Hence  the  Italian  colony  in  any  American  city  grows 
to  some  size  before  a  self-supporting  church  can 
be  organized.  In  fact  the  initiative  in  organizing 
churches  among  Italian  Americans  has  largely  had 
to  be  taken  by  the  American  Catholic  authorities^ 
who  furnish  a  large  part  of  the  support  which  Ital 
ians  are  unable  or  unwilling  to  give.  "Many  an 
Italian  has  had  his  religion  in  his  wife's  name,  and 
the  majority  of  Italians  in  America  have  no  wives." 
.  .  .  "Ideals  of  political  liberty  have  collided  here 
in  America  with  the  established  order  and  temporali 
ties  of  the  church."  .  .  .  "The  Italian  takes  his  re 
ligion  lightly  ...  he  comes  to  us  in  a  state  of  men 
tal  and  moral  reaction  ...  he  belongs  quite  as 
much  to  the  army  of  the  unchurched  as  to  the  ranks 
of  Catholicism.  .  .  .  Among  eighty  Italian  newspa 
pers  in  the  United  States  no  one  is  religious  or 
Catholic."  (The  Literary  Digest  of  October  11, 
1913,  quoting  the  Catholic  Citizen  of  Milwaukee.) 
To-day  (1921)  there  are  190  ^papers  (weekly  or 
oftener),  only  six  of  which  are  Roman  Catholic. 

Causes  and  character  of  Roman  Catholic  effort. — 
The  first  Italian  Koman  Catholic  Church,  St.  An 
thony's,  was  founded  in  New  York  City  in  1866. 
The  most  active  body  among  Italian  immigrants  has 
been  the  Franciscan  fathers  who  followed  them  from 
Italy.  (Ibid.,  The  Catholic  Encyclopedia.)  The  ex 
pansion  of  Protestant  work  among  Italian-Ameri 
cans  has  roused  the  fears  of  Catholics  and  stirred 
them  to  action.  In  1913  the  calculation  was  made 
that  one  million  Italian  immigrants  had  been  lost 
to  the  church,  thousands  having  been  attracted  to 
Protestantism  and  tens  of  thousands  remaining  un- 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  RELIGIOUS  CQNDmONS ]  :iOl-.f  : 

churched.    It  was  further  stated  that  according  to 
the  Catholic  Directory  for  1911,  while  there  were 
250  Protestant  Italian  churches  and  missions  in  the 
United  States,  there  were  not  more  than  150  Eoman  "" 
Catholic.     (Ibid.,  the  Literary  Digest.)     So  it  came 
about  that  with  the  increase  in  number  of  the  immi 
grants  after  1900  and  again  from  1910   onward, 
greater  Catholic  activity  among  them  began  to  be  ) 
noted.    The  Protestant  Italian  churches  now  (1921) 
number  304. 

Toward  the  Protestant  work  this  activity  took  the 
form  of  intense  opposition,  which  has  at  times 
broken  out  in  violence  and  lawlessness.  Catholics 
have  rarely  been  willing  to  tolerate  Protestant  work 
for  Italians  even  where  Catholic  work  does  not  exist. 
Many  Protestant  edifices  which  had  become  sur 
rounded  by  the  Italian  population  have  been  sold 
to  the  Catholics.  Others  were  built,  uniformly  fine 
and  appropriate  structures.  The  earlier  Italian 
priests,  assigned  to  American  service,  were  of  in-  j 
ferior  quality,  undesired  in  Italy,  and  consequently  : 
unable  to  hold  their  people  here.  But  later,  abler 
men  were  sent.  American  dioceses  were  admpn^ 
ished  in  a  special  papal  encyclical  to  give  attention 
to  the  Italian-American  field.  Young  American 
Seminarians,  chiefly  of  Irish  descent,  were  sent  to  . 
Eome  expressly  to  learn  the  Italian  language  and 
character.  These  have  often  met  with  marked  suc 
cess,  from  the  Catholic  point  of  view.  Their  atti 
tude  to  Protestant  workers  has  been  even  more 
rabidly  intolerant  than  that  of  their  Italian  col 
leagues. 

Italian  priests,  especially,  have  worked  under 
great  handicaps,  on  account  of  their  mistaken  notion 
that  a  priest  ^may  properly  act  as  a  priest  even 
though  his  private  character  be  questionable.  Be 
cause  their  training  has  been  away  from  the  life  of 
the  people,  their  methods  have  often  been  the  antith- 


102  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

esis  of  American  democracy  and  their  education 
has  produced  reluctance  and  helplessness  in  under 
taking  social  work.  Success  has  occurred  where  the 
priest  has  been  a  real  man,  of  large  personality 
and  broad  views  and  devoted  to  his  people. 

Expansion  of  Catholic  social  service. — Of  late 
years  the  Church  has  imitated  Protestant  social  ac 
tivities  and  service  by  conducting  sewing  schools, 
music  classes,  gymnasiums,  athletic  activities,  Eng 
lish  classes,  day  schools,  kindergartens,  and  Boy 
Scout  troops.  Other  institutions  for  children  care 
for  foundlings,  orphans  and  the  wayward.  There  is 
an  increasing  number  of  Catholic  social  settlements. 
The  society  of  San  Kaffaele  and  the  society, 
"Italica  Gens,"  protect  and  serve  Italian  immi 
grants.  The  impression  in  the  past  has  been  that 
such  social  efforts  have  aimed  to  foster  "Pltali- 
anita,"—  overseas  characteristics — rather  than  to 
Americanize;  or,  indeed,  were  less  for  the  sake  of 
the  service  rendered  than  to  maintain  the  authority 
of  the  church. 

Taking  precedent  from  the  war  experience  of  the 
Knights  of  Columbus,  the  Eoman  Catholic  church 
has  entered  upon  an  ambitious  reconstruction  pro 
gram  of  social  effort,  centralized  in  the  National 
Catholic  Welfare  Council.  Already  under  its  direc 
tion  a  new  and  completely  organized  community 
center  in  the  heart  of  the  Italian  colony  of  Utica, 
N.  Y.,  has  been  opened  (National  Catholic  Welfare 
Bulletin,  November,  1920).  Doubtless  the  adequate 
social  service  training  for  personnel  will  in  time 
react  upon  Italian  parishes.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that 
the  Americanization  plans  going  forward  shall  be 
made  to  apply  to  these  parishes  where  the  Catholic 
Church  through  its  parochial  schools,  various  so 
cieties  and  general  influence  is  able  to  be  a  tremen 
dous  force  for  assimilation,  but  has  hithertobeen  an 
inert  if  not  a  retarding  one.  It  is  desirable  also  that 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS     103 

her  influence  continue  to  be  set  against  those  forces 
seeking  to  destroy  the  family  and  to  disrupt  the 
state. 

Italian- American  Catholicism  may  now  utter  its 
voice  through  the  press,  and  indeed  possesses  six 
organs  of  its  own,  chiefly  weeklies,  in  several  cities. 
The  1916  Census  of  Eeligious  Bodies  states  the  num 
ber  of  its  churches,  using  Italian  and  English,  to  be 
476  with  1,515,818  adherents,  of  which  149  using 
Italian  only  reported  420,511  adherents.  Here  it 
must  be  remembered  that  this  number  is  not  made; 
up  of  adult  members  but  includes  also  all  children! 
who  have  been  baptized  in  the  Eoman  Catholic 
churches. 

Roman  Catholic  summary. — The  foregoing  then 
is  an  estimate  of  the  attempt  of  the  Eoman  Catholic 
Church  to  fix  a  transplanted  people  in  their  ancestral 
belief.  According  to  their  standards  a  more  efficient 
clergy  leadership  both  of  Italian  and  non-Italian 
personnel  has  been  built  up,  but  is  not  yet  adequate. 
Parishes  with  ample  plant  and  multiplied  organiza 
tions  have  been  or  are  being  formed  in  colonies  of 
sufficient  size.  Advantage  is  being  taken  of  the  com 
ing  of  a  larger  proportion  of  Italian  women  to  draw 
the  more  wayward  men  members  of  their  families^ 
into  line.  The  Italian  husband  commands  in  his 
family  more  than  among  Anglo-Saxon  races,  and 
hence  frequently  determines  the  religious  attitude  of 
his  wife.  Nevertheless,  like  her  sisters,  everywhere, 
the  Italian  woman  is  conservative  and  the  conser 
vator  in  matters  of  religion,  and  in  general  exerts  a  ^ 
decided  influence  over  her  husband  towards  retain-  ; 
ing  attachment  to  the  ancient  church.  Appeal  is  ' 
skillfully  made  to  the  idea  that  the  Eoman  Catholic 
faith  is  an  essential  part  of  the  racial  heritage.  We 
have  seen  that  the  first  stimulating  effect  of  America 
upon  many  immigrants  is  to  raise  in  their  esteem  the 
racial  heritage.  Through  this  motive  and  the  appeal 


104  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

to  social  ambition,  it  has  come  about  that  the  well- 
to-do,  the  professional  leaders,  and  other  prominent 
members  of  colonies,  and  their  wives  are  attracted 
to  be  trustees  or  other  directors  in  churches  and 
their  auxiliary  organizations.  This  occurs,  what 
ever  may  be  their  personal  views  or  character.  And 
finally,  finding  it  impossible  to  retain  large  numbers 
of  adult  immigrants,  the  church  is  seeking  a  grip 
upon  the  younger  generation  by  establishing  paro 
chial  schools  and  social  activities  and  as  far  as  may 
be  constraining  its  attendance  thereon. 

Overseas  Protestant  faith  retained.— A  few  con 
gregations  of  Waldensians  retain  in  America  their 
overseas  organization.  There  is  a  large  Walden- 
sian  congregation  in  New  York  City  with  a  Walden- 
sian  pastor,  Eev.  Bartolomeo  Tron.  They  are  found 
in  isolated  groups  scattered  over  the  country,  in 
Massachusetts,  at  Valdese,  N.  C.,  and  Monett,  Mo., 
near  Texarkana,  Brownsville  and  Gainesville,  Tex., 
Provo,  Utah,  and  Santa  Ana,  Cal.,  and  in  New 
York,  Chicago,  Cleveland  and  other  cities.  Numeri 
cally  greater  are  groups  and  scattered  individuals  of 
Waldensian  and  other  missionary  churches  in  Italy, 
who  have  become  members  here  of  Protestant 
churches,  both  Italian  and  American,  and  whose  na 
tive  Protestantism  is  a  stabilizing  and  constructive 
force. 

The  single  church  of  Grotte,  located  among  the 
sulphur  mines  of  southern  Sicily,  has  the  proud 
record  of  having  assisted  in  the  organization  of  no 
less  than  eight  missions  in  America  through  the 
agency  of  emigrants  gone  forth  from  it.  It  is  sig 
nificant,  too,  that  such  a  church  in  Italy  may  have 
been  founded  originally  by  evangelized  immigrants 
returned  from  the  United  States,  or  may  have  been 
the  fruit  of  the  work  of  some  American  denomina 
tional  board  laboring  in  Italy. 

Comparing  the  figures  of  the  Keligious  Census 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS     105 

of  1916  for  Italian- Americans  affiliated  with  any  re 
ligious  organization,  and  the  total  number  of  them 
resident  in  the  United  States,  we  discover  that  hun 
dreds  of  thousands  of  them  are  not  even  nominally 
churched.  If  we  omit  those  who  are  evangelicals,  the 
religious  division  postulated  for  Italy  holds  good 
also  for  America.  The  division  will  be  remembered 
as  between  the  indifferent,  the  faithful  Roman 
Catholics  and  the  atheistic  (Chap.  I,  Part  V).  A 
leading  Italian  priest  in  New  York  admitted  that  at 
least  fifty  per  cent  of  the  Italians  were  without  the 
church  except  for  baptism,  marriage  and  burial 
(McClure,  Leadership  in  the  New  America,  p.  161). 
A  religious  leader  of  Philadelphia  estimated  that 
ninety  to  ninety-five  per  cent  of  the  Italians  of  that 
city  do  not  go  to  church.  One  writer  holds  the  gen 
eral  percentage  of  Italian  unchurched  to  average 
sixty  per  cent  and  states  that  a  leading  Italian  Eo- 
man  Catholic  prelate  put  the  figure  even  higher 
(Sartorio,  p.  104).  A  questionnaire  sent  out  to 
Italian  pastors  of  various  denominations  promi 
nently  engaged  in  Italian  evangelization  evoked  the 
surprisingly  unanimous  reply,  " About  one-third."1 
Religious  indifference  analyzed. — This  indiffer 
ence  is  often  dislike  of  the  priest,  of  perfunctory  ec-  \t 
clesiastical  service,  of  the  compulsion  to  support^  X 
by  presence  and  money,  functions  and  ritual  whose 
value,  in  the  atmosphere  of  America,  is  more  than 
ever  discounted  as  trifling.  It  is  insurgency  against 
outworn  superstition,  and  ignorance,  often  studi-\ 
ously  perpetuated.  There  are  many  ex-students  for J 
the  priesthood  in  America  who  began  their  studies 
and  discouraged  by  the  deadness  of  the  study  and 
the  life  to  which  it  was  leading  them  abandoned  it. 
Fundamental  faith  has  been  bred  out  of  the  people, 
and  the  great  verities  taught  but  sparingly.  The 

1  Mangano,  Religious  Work  among  Italians  in  America,  p.  8. 


106  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

sheep  may  not  know  their  hunger,  but  if  they  do 
look  up,  they  are  not  fed.  They  are  the  product  of 
a  hollow  religious  system  which,  even  here,  in  its 
essentials,  has  been  but  slightly  improved. 

And  yet  in  the  minds  of  the  larger  number  of 
these  indifferent  ones  there  is  no  renunciation  of 
their  Catholic  faith.  They  do  not  know  themselves 
as  indifferent.  Their  mentality,  as  molded,  is  a 
Catholic  mentality,  and  if  they  think  at  all  they  be 
lieve  in  the  ideal  of  their  church.  They  are  not  as 
yet  atheists,  they  are  simply  poverty-stricken  in  es 
sential  religion.  But  simply  because  they  are  indif 
ferent,  they  are  not  thereby  Protestants,  nor  do 
they  always  give  greater  welcome  to  Protestant 
propaganda  or  absorb  its  teachings  more  sincerely. 
They  are  a  legitimate  field  for  whosoever  is  able  to 
inspire  them  with  vital  religion.  Yet  since  they 
claim  no  distinction  from  other  "good"  Italian 
Catholics,  it  is  impossible  to  segregate  them  as  ob 
jects  of  Protestant  effort.  Often  it  is  true  that  Ital 
ians  who  have  continued  to  believe  in  and  observe  the 
old  faith,  make  the  best  evangelical  Christians  when 
convinced  that  the  new  is  superior  to  the  old.  For 
mer  bigots  are  the  best  members  of  our  Italian  mis 
sions.  They  have  capacity  and  zeal. 

Indifferent  Italian  Catholics  often  retain  the  con 
ventionalities  and  superstitions  in  which  their  re 
ligious  heritage  has  abounded  and  to  which  igno 
rance  has  enslaved  them.  They  would  be  distressed 
for  the  future  state  of  their  families  were  their 
members  not  baptized  or  buried  or  even  married,  in 
the  bosom  of  the  Church.  They  are  apt  to  confound 
their  esthetic  feelings  before  the  pageantry  of  altars 
with  real  religion.  They  continue  to  support  fan 
tastic  street  processions.  Keverence  for  their  pa 
tron  saint,  homage  to  his  day  and  his  altar  continue 
to  be  scrupulously  observed,  when  other  religious 
practice  is  neglected.  Fear  of  the  evil  eye,  the  con- 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS     107 

sequent  wearing  of  charms,  even  respect  for  witch 
ery  and  wizardry  persist.  Since  these  lines  were 
first  written,  the  writer  has  been  informed  of  a 
young  Italian  girl  in  the  first  stages  of  tuberculosis, 
who  believes  herself  bewitched.  She  sedulously  goes 
for  treatment  to  a  so-called  Italian  doctor  who  has 
told  her  that  her  rejected  lover  in  revenge  for  her 
refusal  of  him  is  taking  her  blood,  hence  her  de 
pleted  physical  condition. 

The  drift  to  socialism  and  atheism. — A  lesser 
number  of  Italian-Americans  are  constantly  pass 
ing  through  indifference  to  skepticism,  and  from 
skepticism  to  atheism.  At  some  point  of  the  way 
they  break  absolutely  with  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church.  Their  skepticism  at  the  start  is  usually  in 
duced  by  overseas  socialistic  propaganda  which  ex 
ploits  the  abuses  of  the  church.  But  the  mistake  is 
made  of  confounding  all  religion  with  ecclesiasti- 
cism.  Christian  faith  of  every  name  is  rejected  as 
an  outworn  superstition  imposed  upon  the  ignorant 
to  keep  them  in  social  and  economic  subjection.  A 
great  throng  of  young  Italians  take  this  position. 
Many  are  members  of  organized  clubs  and  engage  in 
active  propaganda  by  voice  and  pen.  The  writer 
was  for  some  months  in  contact  with  such  a  club 
bearing  the  ambitious  name  of  "Circle  for  Social 
Studies, "  the  young  men  of  which  represented  a 
number  of  brands  of  socialism,  anarchism,  and  athe 
ism.  The  noticeable  thing  about  them  was  the  de- 
fectiveness  of  their  logic,  the  violence  of  their  preju 
dice,  and  the  onesidedness  of  their  reading. 

Undesirable  moral  results. — The  most  undesirable 
result  of  these  defective  religious  attitudes  is  the 
materialism  and  immorality  which  they  unleash. 
These  are  the  natural  result  of  that  which  is  prac 
tically  paganism.  Along  with  the  unsettlement  of 
life  in  a  new  country,  there  is  lacking  the  power  of 
real  religion  to  restrain  passionate  tempers  and 


108  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

strong  sexual  natures.  And  the  normal  Italian  mo 
tive  of  saving,  coupled  with  the  adoption  of  the 
American  ideal  of  "getting  ahead,"  becomes  swollen 
into  materialistic  and  unscrupulous  ambition,  not 
seldom  selfish  and  cruel.  Hence  arise  those  sordid 
extremes  of  Italian- American  life  to  which  we  have 
alluded  in  a  previous  chapter. 

The  challenge  to  evangelical  effort. — It  should 
not  be  deduced  from  the  foregoing  survey  of  the 
seriousness  of  religious  conditions  among  Italian- 
Americans  that  they  are  not  open  to  religious  ap 
proach.  They  can  be  reached.  In  fact  the  serious 
ness  of  the  lack  of  real  religion  among  them  is  in  it 
self  sufficient  incentive  to  work  among  them.  That 
the  charge  of  proselyting  should  not  distract,  and 
that  the  motive  of  Protestant  self-interest  should  re- 
enforce  the  motive  of  altruistic  service,  Prof.  Steiner 
adduces  where  he  writes :  "  There  is  no  institution  in 
the  United  States  which  will  be  so  profoundly  af 
fected  by  the  immigrant  as  the  Protestant  church. 
Without  him  she  will  languish  and  die ;  with  him  she 
has  a  future.  The  Protestant  church  is  called  upon 
to  lift  the  immigrant  into  a  better  conception  of 
human  relations  for  her  own  sake  and  for  the  sake 
Of  the  communities  which  she  wishes  to  serve.  .  .  . 
This  she  must  do  even  if  it  brings  her  under  sus 
picion  of  proselyting.  Indeed  one  of  the  growing 
weaknesses  is  the  loss  of  those  deep  convictions 
which  make  proselyting  easy."  2 

Italians  and  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  Y.  W.  C.  A.— 
Two  organizations  which  while  repudiating  all  pur 
pose  or  practice  of  proselyting,  yet  definitely  seek 
to  foster  Christian  character  and  friendliness 
through  wholesome  activity  and  contact  with  Chris 
tian  personality,  are  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  and  the  Young  Women's  Christian  As- 

2  Steiner,  The  Immigrant  Tide :  Its  Ebb  and  Flow,  p.  326. 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS    109 

sociation.  It  is  difficult  to  dissociate  the  work  of 
the  former  from  its  general  immigrant  work.  Aside 
from  the  association  in  Montreal,  Canada,  the  writer 
knows  of  no  association  on  this  continent  calling  it 
self  Italian,  the  few  such  efforts  once  initiated,  hav 
ing  been  abandoned.  However,  the  sum  total  of 
service  to  those  of  Italian  blood  is  large  either 
through  the  normal  activities  of  Y.  M.  C.  A.  build 
ings  or  through  the  port  or  community  service  of 
Americanization  secretaries.  The  usual  activities  in 
the  buildings  are  too  expensive,  of  too  high  a  grade, 
of  too  different  a  social  sphere  for  the  average  Ital 
ian  immigrant  to  share.  In  recent  years  the  more 
Americanized  youths  have  come  to  be  no  inconsider 
able  element,  especially  in  departments  located  near 
Italian  colonies.  Contact  is  had  more  freely  through 
employment  bureaus  and  in  English  and  naturaliza-f 
tion  classes,  particularly  where  encouraged  by  em 
ployers  in  factories.  Italian  boys  are  being  touched 
increasingly  by  athletic  activities  and  summer  camps 
of  city  associations  and  by  the  smaller  groups  of 
county  and  rural  Y.  M.  C.  A's.  Boys  and  men  have 
been  interested  in  "thrift"  and  " safety-first" 
movements  and  in  "block"  organizations.  Except 
during  the  war  a  large  service  of  information,  as 
sistance  and  protection  has  been  rendered  to  Italian 
immigrants  at  ports  of  departure,  on  shipboard,  at 
arrival  at  large  city  railway  stations.  A  great  re 
cent  development  has  been  the  organization  of  out 
door  community  ' '  sings ' '  and  concerts  for  the  public 
of  which  Italians  form  a  part,  and  the  organization 
of  racial  concerts  in  which  Italian  groups,  true  to 
their  native  genius,  have  been  prominent. 

The  Young  "Women's  Christian  Association  has  a 
distinct  ministry  to  Italian  women  in  its  Interna 
tional  Institute  service  for  racial  groups.  It  has  a 
corps  of  Italian  secretaries  and  work  for  Italian 
women  and  girls  in  thirty-four  cities.  It  has  re- 


110  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

Gently  begun  to  touch  isolated  rural  groups  also. 
Activities  promoted  are  study  of  English,  educa 
tional,  vocational,  recreative.  These  are  carried  on 
through  clubs,  classes  and  lectures  held  wherever  op 
portunity  offers,  and,  not  the  least  important, 
through  home  visitation.  A  valuable  series  of  ex 
ceedingly  attractive  pamphlets  has  been  issued  un 
der  such  titles  as  Naturalization  for  Women,  The 
Kindergarten,  The  Baby,  The  Problems  of  the 
Mother  in  a  New  Land,  What  America  has  for  You, 
etc.  This  has  an  Italian  edition.  For  those  at  work 
for  Italians,  the  Italian  information  in  the  regular 
bulletin,  entitled,  Foreign-Born,  is  very  useful.  The 
needs  and  problems  of  Italian  women  have  been 
gone  into  elsewhere  in  this  study.  It  is  obvious  that 
the  intelligent,  sympathetic  service  rendered  to  them 
by  the  Young  Women's  Christian  Association  is 
vital  and  merits  extension. 

Beginning  of  Italian  Mission  Churches. — The  first 
Italian  Protestant  Church  was  founded  in  New  York 
City  in  1880  by  the  Kev.  Antonio  Arrighi,  who,  aged 
in  service  and  pastor  emeritus,  still  lives  till  this 
day  the  revered  and  beloved  dean  of  Italian  min 
isters.  It  is  a  pleasure  also  to  record  that  his 
work  remains  to  this  moment  a  powerful  and  pro 
gressive  nursery  of  Christian  workers  and  energy. 
The  first  religious  work  among  Italian  immigrants 
was  begun  by  active,  conscientious  members  of  neigh 
boring  churches  aroused  by  the  inadequacy  of  Italian 
conventional  religion,  the  inactivity  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  and  the  apparent  religious  and 
moral  abandonment  of  the  Protestant  denomina 
tions.  Many  churches  have  never  awakened  to  their 
duty  to  their  Italian  neighbors  and  others  have  been 
unwilling  to  make  the  necessary  effort  and  sacrifice. 
Later,  when  local  means  were  insufficient,  state  or  na 
tional  church  boards  have  taken  charge  of  personnel 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS     111 

salaries  and  direction  of  the  work.  Both  Presby 
terians  and  Methodists  recruited  workers  from  over 
seas,  the  former  chiefly  from  the  Waldensians,  the 
latter  from  their  own  stations  in  Italy.  The  Episco 
palian  workers  have  been,  from  the  first,  consecrated 
American  men  and  women,  who  through  friendliness 
and  character  won  their  way,  often  in  spite  of  im 
perfect  knowledge  of  the  language. 

The  pioneers,  Arrighi  and  Nardi. — Italian  immi 
gration  has  furnished  some  rarely  intelligent  and 
devoted  religious  leaders.  One  of  these,  Rev.  An 
tonio  Arrighi,  an  itinerant  seller  of  busts,  was  con 
verted  by  his  host  in  an  Iowa  town.  Trained  in  a 
Methodist  Academy,  college  and  theological  school, 
he  became  the  founder  of  the  first  Italian  mission  in 
the  U.  S.  His  large  experience  and  educated  judg 
ment  made  him  an  invaluable  guide. 3 

Eev.  Michele  Nardi,  (the  D.  L.  Moody  of  Italian 
Missions),  was  a  business  man  of  growing  wealth 
and  Italian  Consul,  well  bred  and  educated  and  of 
winning  personality.  Converted  through  the  read 
ing  of  the  Bible,  he  became  an  evangelist,  traveling 
with  his  wife  from  Maine  to  California.  He  re 
turned  to  Italy  where  he  died  from  overwork  in 
1914.  Making  the  Bible  central  in  his  preaching, 
without  anti-clerical  bitterness,  cooperating  freely 
with  different  denominations,  a  leader  in  tent  and 
social  work  among  Italians,  a  winner  of  young  men, 
he  became  the  spiritual  father  of  scores  of  Italian 
preachers. 4  A  Waldensian  leader  of  exceptional  in 
fluence  among  all  denominations  was  Eev.  Prof. 
Alberto  Clot,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  director  of 
the  Bureau  of  immigration  of  the  Waldensian  Aid 
Society.  He  was  a  man  of  rare  character,  an  accom 
plished  speaker,  whose  death  was  lamented  and 

3  Antonio,  the  Galley  Slave. 

4  Michele  Nardi,  His  Life  and  Work,  by  A.  B.  Simpson. 


112  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

whose  memory  is  revered  by  all  who  knew  him. 
Mention  should  be  made  of  Eev.  Antonio  Mangano, 
dean  of  the  Italian  Department  of  Colgate  Theo 
logical  Seminary,  East  Orange,  N.  J.  Through  the 
interest  of  a  Long  Island  Baptist  pastor  and  peo 
ple,  he  was  led  to  Christ.  He  graduated  with 
honors  from  Brown  University  in  1899.  He  spent 
a  year  in  Italy  studying  the  language.  He  grad 
uated  from  Union  Theological  Seminary  in  1903,  re 
ceiving  the  Master's  degree  from  Columbia  Univer 
sity  the  same  year.  After  a  second  year  in  Italy, 
studying  Italian  immigration,  he  took  up  the  same 
work  here.  After  three  years  as  pastor  of  the  First 
Italian  Baptist  Church,  he  was  elected  to  his  pres 
ent  work.  He  is  the  author  of  Sons  of  Italy,  a  hand 
book  on  " religious  work  for  Italians  in  America," 
and  numerous  articles  in  magazines.  A  missionary 
leader  of  his  denomination  says:  "Dr.  Mangano 
through  the  considerable  number  of  Italian  ministers 
whose  training  he  has  supervised  has  entirely 
changed  the  outlook  of  our  Baptist  work  for  Ital 
ians.  ' ' 

Part  II 

METHODS   OF    WOEK 

New  methods  and  activities  are  being  constantly 
tried  out,  and  accepted  or  rejected  in  the  field  of 
Italian  evangelization.  Nevertheless  after  all  these 
years,  many  activities  have  become  standardized  and 
integral  in  the  program  of  every  Italian  mission.  At 
least  an  approach  to  a  standard  program  can  be  out 
lined  (see  Appendix  "A").  Modifications  of  such  a 
program  of  standard  activities  are  being  put  into 
operation  in  three  types  of  institutions :  the  social 
settlement,  the  institutional  church,  and  the  average 
church  or  mission.  The  impulse  of  the  social  gospel 


SAN  GIOVANNI  IN  CONCA,  MII.AN, 

The  oldest  Waldensian  Church  in  Italy. 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS     113 

and  the  adaptability  of  the  settlement  program  to 
minister  to  all  sorts  of  needs  among  Italians,  has 
promoted  a  number  of  religious  social  settlements 
among  them.  Opinions  differ  as  to  whether  the  two 
plants  should  be  separated  or  closely  joined.  Re 
ligious  instruction  may  be  attempted  in  the  settle 
ment  itself.  It  may  act  as  a  feeder  for  the  affiliated 
church  and  Sunday  school.  Sometimes  the  plant  is 
at  a  distance  from  the  church  with  no  obvious  con 
nection  between  the  two. 

The  American  Parish  in  New  York  City  encour 
ages  clubs  and  classes  in  the  Italian  churches  and 
also  conducts  separate  settlements.  One  denomina 
tion  is  planning  to  build  50  settlements  or  commun 
ity  houses  for  immigrant  people.  Many  of  these  will 
have  no  direct  connection  with  an  individual  church. 
For  a  list  of  the  activities  of  Davenport  Settlement, 
New  Haven,  Conn.,  in  which  church  life  is  carried 
on  in  the  plant  ( see  Appendix  "  C ' ') .  For  a  schedule 
of  the  activities  of  the  Judson  Neighborhood  House, 
New  York  City  (Baptist),  (see  Appendix  "B"). 

The  institutional  church. — A  common  form  of 
service  to  Italians  is  the  institutional  church,  which 
includes  churches  with  a  round  of  week  day  activi 
ties  often  carried  on  in  ill-fitted  basements,  and 
plants  rendering  myriad  forms  of  service  of  which 
the  Chapel  group  of  Grace  Church  Parish,  N.  Y.,  is 
an  illustration.  The  list  includes  the  chapel,  hospi 
tal,  parish  house,  clergy  house,  club  house,  mission 
houses  and  vicarage. 

Friendly  service  the  avenue  to  religious  ministry. 
— In  carrying  out  these  lines  of  social  endeavor,  the 
motive  in  the  mind  of  the  worker  is  complex.  He 
is  working  contrary  to  the  Roman  Catholic  idea  of 
religious  activities  solely  in  churchly  buildings,  ad 
hering  only  to  the  fundamental  idea  that  the  church 
auditorium  should  be  reserved  for  sacred  functions. 
He  is  inspired  by  the  humane  service  of  Jesus.  But 


114  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

above  all  lie  realizes  that  the  religious  approach  to 
Italians  must  be  in  large  measure  indirect,  or  must 
be  made  attractive  and  concrete  through  vivid  ac 
tivity  and  multiplied  personal  contact.  The  worker 
must  be  first  and  continuously  friend  if  he  would  be 
spiritual  minister.  Hence  a  progressive  Italian  min 
ister  in  an  Italian  colony,  with  some  sort  of  plant  at 
his  disposal,  sets  in  motion  certain  typical  activi 
ties,  not  strictly  religious,  which  ramify  in  unlimited 
variety  as  opportunity  and  staff  of  workers  permit. 

(I)  His  first  point  of  contact  is  with  the  Italian* 
man  as  an  immigrant.    He  builds  up  a  class  in  Eng 
lish  and  later  in  citizenship.    Then  a  men's  club,  a 
mutual  aid  or  death  benefit  society,  or  in  rare  in 
stances  establishes  a  cooperative  store — activities, 
which  because  of  the  individualistic  nature  of  the 
Italian,  are  most  difficult  of  success  and  not  seldom 
provocative  of  discord  in  the  church. 

(II)  In  the  second  place  he  will  seek  to  serve  the 
children  in  order  to  found  a  Sunday  school.    To  this 
end  he  will  organize  the  boys  for  games  or  athletics, 
and  later  a  troop  of  Boy  Scouts  or  a  castle  of  the 
Knights  of  King  Arthur.    To  reach  the  girls  he  will 
ask  for  an  Italian  woman  missionary,  or  failing  in 
that,  an  American  woman  worker,  to  establish  a  sew 
ing  class  and  perhaps  a  domestic  science  class. 

(III)  A  signal  means  of  gaining  the  people's  good 
will  is  a  day  nursery  and  kindergarten,  and  in  sum 
mer  a  Daily  Vacation  Bible  School.    A  choir  is  of 
unrivaled  attractiveness  and  usefulness,  and,  when 
expanded  into  a  chorus  and  strengthened  by  an  or 
chestra,  is  a  tremendous  asset  to  any  Italian- Ameri 
can  church.    A  veteran  Congregational  pastor  has 
made  a  unique  success  by  dividing  his  attention  be 
tween  music,  English  and  citizenship,  and  church 
functions.    Indeed  there  is  no  one  combination  more 
valuable  than  that  of  pastor  and  music  master. 

(IV)  Because  of  the  strategic  place  of  the  Italian 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS    115 

mother  and  the  inability  of  the  pastor  freely  to  enter 
the  Italian  home,  the  woman  missionary  is  essential 
to  women 's  participation  in  church  life  and  activi 
ties. 

(V)  An  avenue  of  approach  to  the  young  people 
is  their  artistic  and  dramatic  interest.  Lectures,  ex 
hibitions,  celebrations,  concerts,  pictures  and  social 
evenings  call  in  the  public  and  all  members  of  the 
family.  The  program  should  be  flexible,  new  activi 
ties  taken  up  and  old  discontinued  as  their  advantage 
or  disadvantage  is  revealed.  There  are  two  major 
problems.  The  immigrant  must  first  be  persuaded 
to  cross  the  threshold  of  a  church  building,  so  great 
is  his  fear  of  excommunication,  and  prejudice  en 
tertained  against  Protestants.  The  second  is  to  win 
his  heart.  Activities  must  be  used  to  disarm  his 
prejudices,  assist  in  winning  his  friendship,  his  af 
fection  for  the  church,  and  his  allegiance  to  Christ 
and  his  ideals. 

The  Sunday  school  central. — The  success  or  fail 
ure  of  the  Sunday  school  is  of  the  utmost  im 
portance.  Had  all  the  one-time  Italian  pupils  in 
Sunday  schools  become  church  members,  the  task  of 
Italian  evangelization  would  be  much  nearer  to  com 
pletion  than  it  is.  Through  the  Sunday  school  many 
Italian  parents  have  become  interested  in  evangeli 
cal  churches.  It  is  likewise  true  that  because  parents 
were  Protestants,  the  children  have  continued  in 
Sunday  school.  That  we  need  the  parents,  espe 
cially  the  mother,  Italian  pastors  feel  keenly.  They 
generally  agree  that  most  Sunday  schools  in  Italian 
missions  should  be  conducted  in  English  and  that 
the  teachers  and  lesson  helps  be  American.  But  the 
use  of  English  undoubtedly  lessens  the  indifferent 
or  nominal  Catholic's  interest  in  the  school.  Many 
Italian  workers  feel  that  there  is  lacking  the  proper 
shaping  of  courses  and  the  note  of  Protestant 
apologetics  in  the  teaching  which  should  put  con- 


116  TH1    ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

viction  regarding  Protestant  ideals  and  attachment 
to  the  evangelical  church  into  the  heart  of  the 
Italian  child  during  the  impressionable  years.  Va 
rious  Italian  pastors,  unable  to  cope  easily  with  this 
burdensome  problem  in  the  Sunday  school,  are  em 
phasizing  their  catechism  classes.  Also,  discon 
tented  with  the  shortness  of  the  Sunday  school 
hour,  they  are  calling  together  the  scholars  during 
the  week,  and  making  use  of  special  courses.  Many 
churches  hold  Bible  Study  for  children  on  a  week 
night,  following  it  with  stereopticon  pictures  and 
songs. 

The  ministry  of  evangelization. — Since  immigra 
tion  has  been  largely  of  young  men,  Italian  pastors 
have  found  their  predominant  work  to  be  a  min 
istry  calculated  to  win  them.  All  other  types  of 
service  have  been  necessarily  subservient  to  evan 
gelization:  a  giving  of  the  living  gospel  to  those 
who  were  without  the  gospel.  Aside  from  the  natu 
ral  resentment  of  pastors  who  have  emerged  from 
the  hollowness  and  uselessness  of  their  native 
church,  or  the  dislike  of  the  immigrant  for  priest 
craft  and  papal  opposition  to  Italian  national  aspi 
rations,  the  force  of  the  preaching  of  the  New  Testa 
ment  has  been  toward  making  a  complete  break  with 
the  Eoman  Catholic  Church.  This  rupture  has 
cleared  away  the  ground  completely  and  left  to  the 
Italian  pastor  the  power  and  the  responsibility  for 
building  entirely  new  church  ideals  and  institutions. 
The  actual  result  has  been  the  adoption  by  the  larger 
number  of  an  ideal  of  the  church  which  is  radically 
Puritan,  and  unfortunately  in  many  cases  rabidly 
denominational. 

Variant  ideals  of  the  church  held  by  Italian 
Protestants. — In  contrast  to  the  above  is  the  ideal 
of  Protestant  work  for  Italians  of  the  Anglican  or 
High  Episcopal  Church.  This  ideal  commends  itself 
to  many  Americans  who  know  the  Italian's  natural 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS    117 

delight  in  color  and  ceremony,  or  who  are  familiar 
with  the  Modernist  in  Italy  who  is  Catholic  but  not 
papal.  High  church  Italian  rectors  would  slough  off 
papal  superstition,  while  retaining  many  features  of 
Catholic  ritual.  They  make  much  of  the  ideal  of 
"Catholic"  in  the  broad  sense,  asserting  not  only 
the  authority  of  the  New  Testament  but  of  the  early 
Church  Fathers.  Eecently  the  great  future  for 
Anglicanism  in  work  for  Italians  has  been  vigorously 
championed. 5  However  churches  of  this  type  have 
not  yet  developed  any  extraordinary  growth  or  stay 
ing  power,  and  what  success  has  been  attained  seems 
due  to  the  personality  of  the  rector  rather  than  his 
method  of  approach.  Indeed  the  strongest  Episcopal 
churches  seem  to  be  those  of  the  more  liberal  and 
socially-minded  type.  The  "Catholic,  but  not  Ro 
man"  type  occasionally  incurs  the  derision  of  the 
Italian  population  through  their  use  of  certain  Ital 
ian  Boman  Catholic  ceremonies  which  are  held  in 
tolerant  contempt  by  the  more  enlightened  class  of 
Italian  colonists. 

By  far  the  larger  number  of  Protestant  Italian 
churches  and  missions  in  the  United  States  have 
been  the  fruit  of  a  vigorous  evangelistic  preaching 
of  the  gospel. 

Usefulness  of  street  preaching  and  tent  work. — 
To  many  immigrants  the  evangelistic  message  has 
come  as  something  entirely  new.  Scenes  of  conver 
sion  have  occurred  which  recall  the  early  church. 
Thousands  hold  the  Gospel  as  a  watchword,  a  token 
of  emancipation  from  ignorance,  superstition  and 
profitless  ceremony.  It  has  been  equally  effectual 
with  those  who  were  formerly  churchmen,  those  who 
have  been  sincere  and  fanatical  Catholics,  and  those 
who  have  abandoned  all  religious  practices.  This 
evangelism  has  made  a  large  use  of  street  and  tent 

5  Capozzi,  Protestantism  and  the  Latin  Soul. 


118  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

preaching.  Through  it  Italian  pastors  have  gone 
out  to  people  who  would  not  come  to  them,  that  hav 
ing  gained  their  confidence,  they  might  attract  them 
to  the  church.  Such  work  requires  courage  and  abil 
ity.  The  preacher  has  often  been  the  target  of  the 
derision  and  rowdy  violence  of  the  bigoted.  The  Ital 
ian  church  of  the  Ascension  in  New  York  was  built 
up  by  open  air  and  tent  preaching.  Preaching  on 
church  steps  and  lawns  is  also  common.  These 
methods  are  exceptionally  useful  in  dispelling  preju 
dice  and  disarming  malicious  gossip  concerning 
Protestants.  Such  services  are  only  aids  to  all-the- 
year-around  preaching  of  the  gospel  indoors. 

Pastoral  friendship  vital. — Above  every  other 
factor,  with  the  average  Italian  Protestant,  the  pas 
tor  and  his  staff  make  the  church.  The  number  who 
can  be  attracted  within  the  walls  will  vary  with  the 
number  of  contacts  which  can  be  made  with  the  col 
ony  through  the  sympathetic  personality  and  sincere 
friendship  of  the  workers,  shown  through  calls  made 
and  service  rendered  to  individuals  and  families,  not 
the  buying  of  the  interest  but  the  winning  of  their 
love  and  good  will.  Members  are  not  members  who 
are  had  "for  a  shovelful  of  coal."  But  the  patient 
explanation  necessary  to  drive  home  unfamiliar  gos 
pel  truth,  and  the  friendliness  which  is  vital  in  mak 
ing  it  convincing,  is  possble  only  by  home  calling  and 
multiplied  errands  of  mercy.  The  custom  of  the 
people  which  restricts  the  calling  of  the  minister 
upon  the  women  of  the  family  during  the  absence  of 
the  men  greatly  limits  his  acquaintance  with  them 
and  makes  imperative  either  the  missionary  service 
of  the  pastor's  wife  or  the  employment  of  a  woman 
missionary,  of  sterling  qualities,  for,  as  has  been 
previously  stated,  no  family  is  securely  evangelized 
until  the  mother  is  won. 

The  matter  of  church  edifice. — Able  leadership 
succeeded  in  founding  many  of  the  missions  still 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS    119 

flourishing,  in  stores  and  mean,  little  halls.  Endur 
ing  Italian  congregations  must  be  housed  in  church 
edifices  which  approach  in  a  modest  way  at  least 
the  ecclesiastical  dignity  of  architecture  of  Roman 
Catholic  churches.  Either  a  new  structure,  or  an 
old  American  church  made  over  to  them,  or  the 
privilege  of  the  use  of  the  edifice  of  some  American 
church,  must  provide  (whatever  its  antecedents)  an 
edifice  decent  and  churchly.  If  the  church  edifice  is 
not  central  in  the  Italian  colony,  the  growth  of  the 
work  will  suffer.  Of  course  it  should  be  pleasing, 
well-ventilated,  well-heated  and  well-lighted.  The 
interior  finish,  windows,  organ  and  pulpit  furnish 
ings  should  be  as  beautiful  as  may  be. 

It  is  Italian  usage  that  the  church  auditorium  or 
the  room  which  serves  for  the  solemn  religious  serv 
ices  be  reserved  for  those,  or  for  dignified  and  seri 
ous  functions.  Hence  that  church  incurs  severe 
criticism  from  the  population  which  employs  _  its 
church  auditorium  for  popular  exhibitions,  socials 
and  entertainments.  The  writer  was  once  repri 
manded  by  a  church  deacon  because  in  a  beautiful 
allegorical  Easter  exercise,  the  stereopticon  was 
used  to  light  up  the  platform  and  the  usage  re 
minded  the  worthy  official  of  a  spot-light.  A  hall, 
such  as  the  Sunday  school  room  ordinarily  is,  is  a 
very  desirable  and  useful  part  of  any  Italian  church 
plant,  and  if  it  has  a  separate  entrance  there  will 
be  no  objection  to  its  use  for  all  sorts  of  social  func 
tions. 

Appropriate  ritual. — Mention  has  already  been 
made  of  the  ideal  of  picturesque  ritual  held  by  some. 
The  better  way  would  seem  to  be  to  foster  the  ideal 
of  "beauty  in  simplicity"  rather  than  imitate  in 
any  sense  "the  decadent  showiness  of  the  modern 
Italian  Roman  Catholic  altar  and  rite,"  which  Ital 
ians,  who  have  become  Protestants,  in  most  cases, 
resent.  The  service  should  be  rich  in  music  and 


120  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

Scripture,  and  solemn  in  prayer,  adapted  to  the  men 
tality  of  its  hearers  who  should  participate  as  far 
as  they  are  able.  The  minister  ought  to  be  appro 
priately  dressed  and  his  choir  may  be  vested. 

Such  is  the  dislike  of  the  word,  "  Protestant, "  with 
which  Italian-Americans  have  been  imbued,  it  is 
better  policy,  when  making  contact  with  them  for  the 
first  time,  to  emphasize  our  name  of  "evangelical 
churches, ' '  which  is  accepted  with  approbation. 

The  effective  message. — The  Italian  needs  a  gos 
pel  of  high  personal  character  and  brotherhood,  il 
lustrated  by  altruism,  cooperation  and  service,  but 
this  obtains  no  grip  on  the  ordinary,  uninformed,  un 
disciplined,  and  almost  uncivilized  peasant  who 
comes  to  America.  The  Sicilian,  intense  in  his  loves 
and  hates,  is  not  transformed  by  strivings  after  high 
ideals,  intellectually  admired.  Italians  both  on  the 
mainland  and  in  Sicily  need  a  supreme,  personal 
loyalty  to  some  one  whose  love  and  service  is  the 
all-embracing  motive  of  his  life.  They  have  found 
a  crude  substitute  in  the  often  vulgarly  elaborated 
and  picturesque  worship  of  the  Virgin  Mary  and 
the  saints.  The  gospel  which  he  needs  is  the  an 
cient  message  of  the  apostolic  church — the  Biblical 
gospel  of  Jesus  Christ — that  he  is  a  living  Christ, 
whose  presence  and  help  may  be  had  by  all,  through 
whom  alone  prayer  may  be  made.  Only  a  vital, 
vivid,  entirely-believed-in  Christ  can  take  the  place 
of  his  old  faith.  Such  a  love  for  Christ  implanted 
in  the  Italian  mind  and  heart  becomes  an  extraordi 
nary  power — "The  expulsive  power  of  a  new  affec 
tion." 

Meeting  the  forces  of  error. — He  will  not  be  won 
by  intense  anti-clerical  attacks  upon  the  Pope,  priests 
and  church.  Such  negative  preaching  gains  few  per 
manent  hearers,  does  not  breed  respect  for  the 
preacher  and  does  not  build  up  a  congregation  in 
faith  and  character.  The  Italian  preacher  who  has 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS     121 

much  anti-clericalism  is  likely  to  have  too  little  gos 
pel.  The  Italian's  intellectual  level  must  be  raised 
by  simply  contrasting  Koman  Catholic  error  and 
evangelical  truth,  not  forgetting  the  great  verities 
and  glories  that  are  common  alike  to  the  Catholic 
and  Evangelical  faiths.  But  only  the  preaching  of 
unadulterated,  evangelical  truth  is  constructive,  dis 
arming  prejudice  and  winning  men. 

Instances  of  conversion  among  Italians. — Italian- 
Americans  remain  unmoved  by  the  phenomenon  of  a 
great  revival.  They  have  no  knowledge  of  the  Bible 
or  of  evangelical  beliefs  hidden  away  as  a  vital  spark 
in  their  souls  such  as  the  American  population  has. 
But  when  by  one  means  or  another  the  good  news  of 
the  gospel  becomes  familiar,  as  remarkable  cases  of 
conversion  occur  as  among  any  other  race.  An 
Italian,  confined  for  many  months  in  jail,  awaiting 
trial  on  charge  of  murder,  read  and  reread  the 
Italian  Bible  brought  to  him  by  his  evangelical  god 
father,  and  was  completely  convinced.  Upon  release 
he  promptly  ordered  his  family  to  have  nothing  fur 
ther  to  do  with  the  priest,  and  sought  out  the  Italian 
minister  to  whom,  until  then,  he  was  unknown.  A 
young  Italian  immigrant,  after  a  year  or  two  of  high 
school  training,  became  the  only  successful  Italian- 
American  jockey,  a  youth  of  large  earnings  and 
reckless  spending.  One  night  in  the  far  west  he 
followed  a  street  meeting  within  doors.  He  was 
moved  to  the  depths  by  the  illustration  used  by  the 
speaker  of  a  brokendown  racehorse,  and  was  con 
verted.  He  immediately  abandoned  his  career.  Ke- 
turning  to  his  old  home  in  an  eastern  state,  inexperi 
enced  and  opposed,  out  of  his  scanty  means  as  a  fac 
tory  operative,  he  set  up  an  Italian  mission.  Later 
while  making  an  enviable  record  in  France  during 
the  war,  he  kept  count  of  over  four  hundred  pals 
whom  he  had  sought  to  evangelize  in  the  trenches. 
Since  his  discharge  from  service  he  has  been  in 


122  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

preparation  for  the  ministry  in  the  Biblical  Semi 
nary  in  New  York  City.  Unwilling  to  be  idle  in  do 
ing  practical  work,  he  has  preached  in  the  open  air, 
and  won  a  gang  of  forty  young  men  of  previous  un 
savory  reputation  to  church  attendance  and  nine  of 
them  to  church  membership. 

Aside  from  the  Sunday  school,  many  pastors  are 
constrained  to  hold  their  young  people  despite  the 
regrets  of  the  parents,  by  a  service  for  them  in  Eng 
lish,  and  have  even  organized  for  them  separate 
English  congregations.  Thus  Broome  St.  Taber 
nacle  in  New  York  has  seen  the  disappearance  of  the 
old  American  congregation,  the  coming  in  of  the 
Italian-speaking  church,  and  now  again  the  use  of 
English  through  the  organization  of  a  congregation 
of  Americans  exclusively  of  Italian  blood. 

Unstable  membership  and  finances. — As  in  other 
phases  of  Americanization,  the  Italian-American 
church  is  a  school  in  cooperation,  for  a  people  in 
large  part  primitive  and  undeveloped  in  the  art  of 
organization.  Even  the  most  tactful  and  sincere 
pastors  here  travel  a  rocky  road.  In  the  first  place 
their  constituency  is  very  mobile.  Besides  the  defec 
tions  of  adherents  who  have  no  root  in  themselves, 
in  meeting  the  unpopularity  which  the  evangelical 
profession  incurs  in  the  average  Italian  colony,  there 
is  the  constant  shifting  of  a  population  unstable  in 
dustrially.  Hence  many  of  our  missions  have  wit 
nessed,  in  their  few  short  years  of  life,  a  complete 
turnover,  once,  or  maybe  several  times,  of  their 
membership.  This  means  that  pastors  have  done,  as 
they  were  compelled  to  do,  an  admirable  work  of 
constant  and  active  recruiting.  It  also  means  that 
they  are  ever  at  the  beginnings  in  preaching  the 
fundamentals,  in  the  problems  of  pastoral  care,  in 
the  development  of  church  loyalty  and  of  the  habit  of 
giving  and  self-support.  The  difficulty  of  our  pas 
tors  in  securing  substantial  and  especially  regular 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS    123 

contributions  from  a  people  which  in  their  original 
church  never  gave,  but  always  paid  for  supposedly 
value  received,  and  in  which  the  primary  motive  is 
saving  even  to  the  point  of  avarice,  is  now  pretty 
thoroughly  understood.  The  successes  which  have 
been  achieved  in  congregational  giving,  apparently 
so  modest,  deserve  greater  recognition  than  they 
have  received.  They  have  been  possible  only  in 
churches  of  exceptional  size,  stability  and  degree  of 
Americanization,  exceptionally  led.  It  is  improbable 
that  any  church  composed  chiefly  of  the  usual  peas 
ant  type  of  immigrants  will  ever  come  to  self-sup 
port,  providing  for  the  salary  of  its  staff.  However, 
due  to  skillful  and  persistent  effort,  large  sums  are 
being  contributed  in  a  few  churches  to  church  ex 
penses  and  even  towards  the  pastor's  salary,  and  a 
degree  of  sympathetic  giving  is  being  attained.  En 
tering  upon  regular,  charitable,  monetary  obliga 
tions  is  the  last  idea  which  certain  primitive  Italian 
minds  will  entertain,  although  they  will  give  gener 
ously,  on  occasion,  to  single  causes  for  which  their 
sympathy  is  enlisted. 

Along  with  this  trait  there  goes  a  deficient  sense 
of  organization.  It  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  exclude 
personal  ambition,  partisan  jealousies,  too  tender 
sensibilities,  and  to  secure  the  acceptance  of  the  will 
of  the  majority  by  the  minority  as  a  necessary  pro 
cedure.  Leadership  must  be  firm,  the  pastor  avoid 
ing  the  disaster  of  weakly  yielding  on  the  one  hand, 
and  imposing  his  will  on  the  other.  Many  a  man 
would  have  been  in  despair  over  the  checkered  ca 
reer  of  affairs  in  his  church  had  he  not  realized  that 
good  and  ill  were  all  a  part  of  unfolding  Chris- 
tianization  and  Americanization. 

The  right  relationship  of  Italians  and  Americans 
in  the  work  of  Italian  evangelization  is  of  first  im 
portance.  Evangelical  work  among  them  has  often 
been  made  or  marred  by  the  attitude  of  the  Ameri- 


124  THE   ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

cans  doing  it.  Awed  by  American  hurry  and  ef 
ficiency,  the  Italian  peasant  immigrant  may  be  out 
wardly  undemonstrative  in  the  presence  of  Ameri 
cans,  but  inwardly  he  is  proud  and  shrewd.  He  is 
quick  to  detect  insincerity  and  to  resent  indifference, 
superiority  or  imposition.  If,  at  the  worst,  he  seems 
grasping  in  taking  what  America  offers,  at  his  best, 
he  is  humble,  eager  to  learn  and  deeply  grateful  for 
the  kindness  shown  him. 

Types  of  church  organization. — Out  of  these  cir 
cumstances  there  have  arisen  three  forms  of  or 
ganization  in  Italian- American  evangelization:  the 
mission,  the  independent  church  and  the  branch 
church.  In  the  mission  type  the  adherents  become 
members  of  the  American  church  with  which  at 
times  they  join  in  worship  as  in  the  celebration  of 
the  Lord's  Supper.  In  some  part  of  its  plant  they 
hold  regular  services  in  Italian.  Frequently  the 
children  join  in  the  American  Sunday  school  and 
the  Italian  pastor  is  a  part  of  the  staff  of  the  Ameri 
can  church.  The  type  of  the  independent  church  is 
not  noticeably  different  from  its  American  sister  of 
the  same  denomination.  The  branch  church  is  a 
combination  of  both  types.  It  probably  has  its  own 
edifice.  Mainly  it  has  its  own  organization  and  serv 
ices.  It  is  closely  linked  to  the  American  church, 
the  counsel  and  aid  of  which  it  enjoys.  Many  con 
sider  this  the  preferable  form  as  it  permits  the  free 
dom  of  organization  useful  for  development  among 
Italians,  while  affording  a  stimulating  and  re 
straining  relationship  with  Americans. 

Relationships  of  Americans  and  Italians  engaged 
in  evangelization. — The  work  was  initiated,  in  most 
instances,  by  American  churches,  and  has  been  main 
tained  by  them,  or  by  national,  state,  or  city  mis 
sionary  societies  of  various  denominations.  There 
has  always  and  quite  properly  been  American  super 
vision.  Such  supervision  should  be  close  and  sympa- 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS     125 

thetic.  Americans  have  too  often  judged  the  work 
according  to  American  standards  of  church  success, 
and  have  demanded  too  quick  results  both  numerical 
and  financial.  The  Italians  have  not  always  grasped 
the  ideals  which  actuated  American  workers  or 
superintendents,  and  Americans  have  not  always 
taken  account  of  the  primitive  nature  of  the  Italians 
and  the  necessity  of  presenting  a  gospel  adapted  to 
them.  But  it  is  also  true  that  the  success  of  some 
of  our  missions  is  directly  traceable  to  big-hearted 
American  men  and  women,  generous  with  means  and 
sympathy,  and  immensely  patient  and  painstaking. 
They  have  understood  the  Italians  or  have  blotted 
out  all  mistakes  of  method  by  the  heartiness  of  their 
love  for  this  people.  That  work  is  likely  to  fail  in 
which  in  the  absence  of  pronounced  statistics  of 
progress,  American  friends  or  directors  cannot  pre 
serve  their  faith  in  Italians  and  consider  that  the 
work,  large  or  small,  must  be  done  if  needy  souls 
should  have  at  least  the  opportunity  to  hear  the  in 
vitation  of  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

Advances  in  supervision. — Some  steps  have  been 
taken  to  link  up  American  churches  and  missionary 
societies  and  directorates  with  Italian  missions  and 
churches  depending  upon  them.  This  has  been  ac 
complished  through  the  employment  of  American 
supervisors  proficient  in  the  Italian  language  and 
sociology,  and  of  Italian  pastors-at-large  who  have 
the  ear  of  Italian  churches  and  happy  connections 
with  American  authorities  as  well.  It  has  also  been 
fostered  by  special  church  committees  for  Italian 
work  composed  of  persons  of  infinite  tact  and  inter 
est.  It  is  essential  that  Italian  pastors  should  un 
derstand  the  American  point  of  view  and  know  how 
to  cooperate  with  Americans.  It  is  also  exceedingly 
important  that  American  pastors  in  touch  with 
Italian  communities  should  study  them  and  their 
characteristics.  For  much  of  the  second  generation 


126  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

which  is  evangelical  is  going  to  come  into  the  mem 
bership  of  the  American  churches.  The  wisest  Ital 
ian  pastors  are  already  recommending  to  the  care  of 
affiliated  American  churches  certain  of  their  youth 
ful  elements  of  such  a  cast  of  Americanization  that 
they  are  no  longer  at  home  in  the  Italian  missions. 
However  they  are  persistently  encouraging  such  per 
sons  to  return  to  their  native  churches  as  helpers  in 
the  Sunday  school,  etc.  The  American  pastor  must 
know  how  to  assure  them  a  rightful,  comfortable, 
active  part  in  American  church  life  if  he  would  not 
lose  them  to  his  church  and  probably  to  all  church 
connection. 

Italian-Americans  in  American  churches. — Al 
though  statistics  are  lacking  to  demonstrate  the  fact, 
the  number  of  Italian- Americans  being  admitted  to 
American  churches  directly  from  those  smaller  Ital 
ian  colonies  where  there  are  no  missions  is  con 
stantly  increasing.  Such  instances,  often  of  very 
happy  import,  are  due  to  the  cordiality  of  the 
American  brethren  and  the  constant  friendliness  of 
the  American  minister.  To  give  but  one  example, — 
there  are  valued  Italian- American  members  in  sev 
eral  American  churches  of  the  industrial  towns  of 
the  Naugatuck  valley  in  Connecticut.  Eecently  in 
one  of  these  churches  the  mother  of  an  Italian  fam 
ily  invited  the  American  minister  to  make  a  special 
call  upon  them.  In  the  course  of  it  she  said  to  him : 
"We,  as  a  family,  are  now  earning  $2,000  a  year. 
We  think  a  great  deal  of  the  church.  We  are  able 
and  we  ought  to  do  something  for  it.  Here  are  $50 
for  the  church  and  $50  for  the  i World  Movement.'  " 

Growth  in  efficiency  of  Italian  pastors. — Due  to 
larger  discrimination  in  employing  Italian  mission 
aries  in  these  later  years,  and  to  the  weeding  out  of 
inefficients,  Italian  pastors  have  risen  greatly  in  the 
estimation  of  their  American  brethren,  and  are  com 
manding  greater  respect  as  experts  in  their  chosen 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS    127 

field.  Such  esteem  is  being  reflected  in  the  raising 
of  salaries  and  the  assignment  of  larger  responsi 
bilities.  This  increase  of  fellowship  has  remedied  an 
unfortunate  condition  of  isolation  which  many  pas 
tors  have  felt  in  the  past.  Esprit  de  corps  is  also  be 
ing  cultivated  by  occasional  and  regular  joint  con 
ferences  of  Italian  pastors,  American  directors  and 
others  interested.  Among  the  Presbyterians,  who 
are  well  advanced  in  Italian  work,  a  system  of  bi 
ennial  conferences  with  well  defined  organization  has 
been  established.  And  the  difference  between  the 
first  conference  held  so  recently  as  1916  and  that  of 
1920  was  remarkable.  The  growth  in  the  spirit  of 
harmony  and  cooperation,  in  the  ability  to  speak 
English,  and  in  the  general  tone  of  morale  and  effi 
ciency  on  the  part  of  the  individual  workers  was 
marked.  It  seems  to  the  writer  from  his  personal 
acquaintance  with  a  number  of  pastors  of  several  de 
nominations  that  this  improvement  in  spirit  and 
status  is  true  throughout  the  Italian  field. 


Part  III 

RELIGIOUS   LITERATURE 

The  subject  of  religious  literature  for  circulation 
among  Italian-Americans"  grows  in  importance  as 
their  degree  of  literacy  advances.  The  increasing 
power  of  the  secular  Italian- American  press,  what  it 
is  and  what  it  might  be,  has  been  noted.  On  occa 
sions  it  reflects  the  common  and  recurrent  hostility 
to  Protestant  work  for  Italians  especially  where  any 
scandal  has  been  uncovered  in  evangelical  circles. 
The  editors  are  generally  willing  to  accept  evangeli 
cal  news  and  notices,  and  have  been  known  to  seek 
the  aid  of  Protestant  pastors  in  enlarging  their  sub 
scription  list.  Doubtless  their  publicity  could  be 


128  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

used  more  largely  to  good  advantage  by  our 
churches,  but  very  few  would  dare  to  lend  them 
selves  for  any  length  of  time  to  systematic  Protes 
tant  propaganda  however  irenic. 

Italian-American  religious  papers. — The  writer 
has  information  of  four  Koman  Catholic  papers  in 
Italian  in  America.  There  is  at  least  one  publish 
ing  agency  of  that  faith  for  that  language.  Six  de 
nominational  Protestant  bodies  have  publishing 
houses  dealing  in  material  for  Italian  work.  There 
are  besides  these  the  tract  societies  and  the  Ameri 
can  Bible  Society.  The  latter,  aside  from  the  matter 
of  the  Scriptures  in  the  tongue,  has  rendered  valu 
able  aid  to  missions  through  the  evangelizing  ability 
of  its  colporteurs.  Seven  religious  papers  are  pub 
lished,  five  of  which  are  weeklies.  Four  of  these  re 
port  a  circulation  of  from  1,500  to  2,750  copies.  Four 
have  been  established  longer  than  the  others, 
namely  L'Era  Nuova,  Presbyterian;  La  Fiaccola, 
Methodist;  L' Aurora,  Baptist;  L'Ape  Evangelica, 
United  Presbyterian.  The  others  are:  La  Verita 
in  Carita,  Episcopalian ;  I  Segni  del  Tempi,  Seventh 
Day  Adventist;  II  Vessillo,  also  United  Presby 
terian.  6 

These  papers  have  gone  through  various  changes 
in  seeking  to  serve  their  constituencies,  and,  while 
realizing  the  unlimited  value  they  might  be,  they  are 
still  not  very  satisfactory  to  their  publishers  nor  to 
the  rank  and  file  of  pastors  and  members.  They 
have  reflected  the  experimental  nature  of  Italian 
evangelization.  In  one  or  more  of  them  there  has 
been  noted  a  tendency  of  catering  too  exclusively  to 
the  pastors,  while  the  general  consensus  of  opinion 
is  that  their  primary  purpose  is  to  evangelize  and 
educate  the  rank  and  file.  Hence  some  pastors  have 
preferred  the  small  sheets  published  in  Italy  as  more 

6  New  American  Studies,  Interchurch  World  Movement  Litera 
ture,  Miss  Amy  Blanche  Greene. 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS    129 

adapted  to  humbler  readers.  To  this  end  of  general 
evangelization,  improvements  in  matter  and  tech 
nique  would  be  valuable.  These  papers  print  the 
larger  part  of  Sunday  school  helps  which  are  ex 
tant,  and  have  been  active  in  temperance  work. 
They  are  adapting  themselves  to  the  character  of 
their  readers  in  becoming  bilingual.  And  with  re 
gard  to  them,  the  unfortunate  presence  of  denomina- 
tionalism  among  Italians  becomes  acute.  The  ideal 
of  a  strong  interdenominational  religious  paper  is 
being  constantly  agitated,  as  contrasted  with  these 
various  poorly  supported  papers  of  lesser  value. 
But  their  value  to  their  respective  denominations 
as  denominational  organs  has  also  been  felt,  and 
only  as  this  study  goes  to  press  is  a  paper  uniting 
several  of  these  sheets  being  planned  for. 

Tract  literature. — The  usefulness  of  tracts  is  un 
questioned  in  the  Italian  field.  The  habit  of  the  class 
of  Italian  immigrants  here  in  America  of  reading, 
not  books,  but  small  articles,  hand-bills,  and  diminu 
tive  newspapers,  shows  the  attention  which  small 
tracts  of  a  single  or  few  pages  obtain,  and  were  they 
well  and  adaptably  written,  the  great  power  they 
would  have.  At  this  later  day  of  Italian  evangeli 
zation,  their  further  value,  if  they  are  bilingual,  is 
obvious.  This  is  a  need  which  has  never  been  well 
met.  American  societies  have  put  forth  a  modest 
number  of  tracts  in  Italian,  and  a  larger  number 
have  been  imported  from  Italy,  some  of  which 
were  considered  worthless  even  there.  Few  pas 
tors,  while  recognizing  the  need,  have  felt  them 
selves  able  to  produce  such  tracts,  while  some  of 
those  who  have  were  actuated  chiefly  by  anti-clerical 
or  controversial  motives.  The  defects  of  the  exist 
ing  tracts  are  defects  of  language,  and  probably 
even  more  of  psychology.  They  were  unadapted 
to  the  Italian  people,  either  translations  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  tracts,  or  filled  with  terms  which  Italians  do 


130  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

not  understand  and  an  over  abundance  of  Scripture, 
the  point  of  which  is  lost  because  many  Italians 
would  not  recognize  it  as  such.  They  frequently 
have  treated  of  persons,  not  Italian,  and  therefore 
who  do  not  command  the  interest  of  Italians.  A 
few  tracts  of  genuine  excellence  have  been  issued, 
forged  out  of  the  experience  of  pastors  to  meet  an 
absolute  need.  When  catechisms,  or  serving  a  cate 
chetical  purpose  in  the  instruction  of  new  converts, 
they  have  been  especially  good. 

The  cost  and  difficulty  of  printing  has  retarded  the 
attacking  of  this  problem.  Certain  energies  have 
gone  into  producing  technical  Americanization 
rather  than  religious  material.  There  is  need  that 
some  interdenominational  agency,  completely  and 
economically  supply  all  churches  working  for  Ital 
ians  with  tract  material,  simple,  fundamental,  avoid 
ing  polemics.  It  should  be  evangelistic  and  apolo 
getic  and  sound  the  notes  of  personal  righteousness, 
social  service  and  Christian  Americanization.  There 
are  indications  that  in  the  near  future  such  material 
will  be  in  some  measure  forthcoming,  for  the  work 
is  greatly  handicapped  without  it. 

Italian  hymnology. — A  need  second  only  to  the 
above  is  the  improvement  and  enrichment  of  Italian 
evangelical  hymnology.  Outside  of  hymns  the  race 
has  practically  no  Protestant  anthems  or  oratorios. 
Many  of  the  hymns  are  translations,  in  many  cases 
happy,  in  other  cases  not.  Often  they  have  been 
wrought  out  by  necessity,  and  hastily  and  illy 
adapted  to  the  music.  The  work  which  has  been  done 
has  indeed  been  well  worth  while  and  a  great  service 
rendered,  but  the  extant  hymnals  are  lacking  in 
technique,  in  selection  of  tunes,  in  adaptability  to 
average  congregations,  and  are  limited  in  range  of 
subjects,  treating  chiefly  of  personal  evangelism  and 
little  of  character,  contact  and  service.  One  is  some 
times  tempted  to  think  that  the  poetical  and  musical 


ITALIAN-AMERICAN  RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS    131 

quality  of  certain  hymnals  produced  in  Italy  make 
them  superior  to  any  produced  in  America,  until  he 
realizes  that  they  are  even  more  deficient  than  ours 
in  the  directions  just  stated.  The  forthcoming  in 
terdenominational  hymnal  there  is  eagerly  antici 
pated. 

For  religious  books,  technical  and  popular,  and 
for  religious  magazines,  we  are  obliged  to  look  to 
Italy,  where  such  a  religious  review  as  Bilychnis, 
published  under  Baptist  auspices,  commands  the  at 
tention  of  a  wide  circle,  and  is  being  found  increas 
ingly  serviceable  by  American-Italian  pastors. 


Chapter  V 
PROBLEMS  OF  RELIGIOUS  LEADERSHIP 

Above  everything  else  the  success  or  failure  of 
Italian-American  churches  has  rested  with  their 
leadership.  The  truthfulness  of  this  statement  was 
never  more  evident  than  at  this  late  stage  of  Italian 
evangelization.  And  the  whole  question  properly 
bids  fair  to  be  treated  more  adequately  and  intelli 
gently  in  the  near  future  than  it  ever  has  been  be 
fore. 

Early  denominational  leaders  were  confronted 
with  two  alternatives  in  providing  leadership  for  the 
Italian  missions  which  they  sought  to  establish:  (1) 
the  importation  of  Italian  ministers  from  Italy,  or 
(2)  the  use  of  such  Protestant  Italians  as  were  at 
hand.  We  have  seen  that  Waldensian  pastors  were 
called  to  the  Presbyterian  missions  which  Rev. 
Michele  Nardi  left  in  his  wake,  and  that  Italian 
Methodists  trained  in  Italy  were  summoned  to  the 
opening  work  of  their  denomination  in  the  United 
States.  These,  when  well  qualified  and  well  fur 
nished  with  American  support,  did  valuable  work  in 
so  far  as  they  adapted  themselves  to  special  Ameri 
can  conditions.  From  time  to  time  others  have  come, 
and  have  given  of  their  strength  and  thorough  train 
ing  to  our  work.  A  slight  tendency  has  existed  on 
the  part  of  some  Waldensian  pastors  here  to  devote 
themselves  too  exclusively  to  Waldensian  families 
rather  than  reach  out  broadly  in  Italian  evangeliza 
tion. 

But  this  personnel  derived  from  overseas  never 
has  been  sufficient  for  American  needs.  And  rarely 
have  candidates  for  the  Italian  ministry  been  found 

132 


PROBLEMS  OF  RELIGIOUS  LEADERSHIP     133 

such  as  Kev.  Antonio  Arrighi,  both  of  large  ability 
and  patience  to  complete  a  thorough  training.  In 
lieu  of  other  leaders  many  Italian  immigrants  were 
called  to  direct  Italian  missions  whose  only  qualifica 
tion  was  a  fair  degree  of  intelligence  and  consecra 
tion  plus  a  modicum  of  intellectual  training.  Natu 
rally  in  the  school  of  experience  many  were  failures. 
But  a  few,  tried  as  if  by  fire,  came  forth  successes. 
There  is  hardly  an  Italian  colony  of  some  years' 
standing  which  has  not  had  its  experience  of  inferior 
men,  deficient  in  mental  quality,  morality  or  tact. 
And  to  this  day  it  is  next  to  impossible  to  work  in 
certain  fields  owing  to  the  remembrance  of  previous 
disasters  due  to  such  causes.  Many  leaders  of  ex 
perience  have  come,  too,  to  question  the  wisdom  of 
employing  ex-priests.  There  have  been  too  many 
disastrous  results.  Even  the  ex-priests,  who  have 
become  efficient  Protestant  ministers,  have  found  it 
difficult  to  gain  the  confidence  of  the  Italian  people, 
because  they  are  considered  as  having  betrayed  their 
one-time  vows,  however  sincerely  the  step  of  aban 
doning  Eomanism  was  taken. 

Perhaps  the  majority  do  not  succeed  in  making 
their  message  positively  evangelical,  but  are  too 
largely  absorbed  in  anti-clerical  propaganda  and 
preaching.  Some  Protestant  authorities  have  lately 
begun  to  follow  the  Waldensian  practice,  which 
rarely  ordains  an  ex-priest  to  the  evangelical  min 
istry,  and  then  only  after  years  of  Protestant  study 
and  training  in  association  with  colleagues  born 
Protestants. 

A  second  step  in  providing  leadership  for  Italian- 
American  missions  was  the  establishment  of  schools, 
denominational  and  undenominational,  or  depart 
ments  of  theological  seminaries  for  their  training 
sometimes  in  conjunction  with  candidates  of  other 
immigrant  nationalities,  sometimes  by  themselves. 
Such  provision  was  made  by  the  Presbyterians  at 


134  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

Bloomfield,  New  Jersey,  where  a  combination  of 
academic  and  theological  subjects  is  taught  and 
where  among  others  there  is  an  Italian  professor. 
A  similar  Presbyterian  institution  with  less  Italian 
clientele  is  located  at  Dubuque,  Iowa.  In  1907  the 
Italian  Department  of  Colgate  Theological  Seminary 
was  opened  in  Brooklyn,  but  is  now  a  part  of  the 
International  Seminary  at  East  Orange,  N.  J.  Most 
of  the  younger  men  at  work  for  the  Baptist  denomi 
nation  have  been  trained  in  this  institution.  Some 
of  them  have  taken  advanced  courses  in  other  insti 
tutions.  Men  for  these,  and  other  denominations 
without  theological  schools  for  Italians,  have  been 
trained  in  considerable  numbers  in  the  Italian  de 
partment  of  the  Biblical  Seminary  in  New  York,  for 
merly  the  Bible  Teachers'  Training  School,  and  a 
few  at  Moody  Institute  in  Chicago. 

A  wide  difference  of  opinion  exists  as  to  the 
amount  of  preparation  necessary  for  admission  to 
theological  training  and  to  the  work  of  the  ministry 
and  missions,  and  this  is  especially  true  in  training 
for  work  among  our  immigrant  peoples.  Well-known 
seminaries  offer  courses  leading  to  diplomas  (but 
not  degrees)  to  students  with  but  partial  or  no  col 
lege  training.  Hebrew  and  Greek  are  elective. 
Training  schools  for  workers  in  city  missions  and 
among  our  foreign  peoples  often  accept  students  of 
insufficient  preparation  who  must  devote  much  of 
their  time  to  subjects  not  usually  in  a  theological 
curriculum.  We  believe  that  the  training  acquired 
is  not  a  sufficient  basis  for  a  successful  ministerial 
career.  The  larger  portion  of  Italian  ministers  suc 
cessful  during  long  years  of  service  have  passed 
through  an  American  college  or  have  taken  a  full 
course  in  a  theological  seminary. 

This  then  is  the  situation:  Some  Italian  missions 
carried  on  without  serious  and  far-reaching  plans  by 
ill-trained  men  without  much  personality  have  com- 


PROBLEMS  OF  RELIGIOUS  LEADERSHIP    135 

manded  scant  consideration  by  the  American  author 
ity  and  have,  in  some  cases,  entirely  failed.  Other 
missions  are  growing  in  efficiency  and  their  leaders, 
possessed  of  staying  power  because  of  adequate 
training,  are  drawing  increasing  attention  and  re 
spect  from  the  American  churches. 

It  has  been  proved  fatal  to  dp  work  for  the  Italians 
in  a  mean  way  or  with  inferior  men.  The  Italian 
missionary  needs  to  be  more  and  better  trained  even 
than  his  American  colleague.  He  is  a  specialist  with 
two  races  and  a  combination  of  them.  He  must  have 
at  his  command  both  Italian  and  American  culture. 
He  must  make  himself  most  truly  Italian  and  most 
truly  American. 

This  proposition  is  being  recognized  by  all  the 
major  denominational  leaders  engaged  in  Italian 
work.  They  are  dissatisfied  with  the  character  and 
quantity  of  the  training  of  the  men  going  out  from 
their  specialized  schools,  and  are  urging  the  best  of 
them  to  pursue  further  study.  There  is  variety  in 
the  suggestions  offered  for  improvement  of  these 
schools,  but  there  is  unanimity  in  the  belief  that  the 
training  is  not  enough  in  quantity,  and  should  be 
supplemented  in  some  cases  with  further  acquaint 
ance  with  Italian  language  and  sociology  and  in 
other  cases  with  study  of  American  theology  and 
practice.  Further  study  in  American  seminaries  is 
considered  desirable,  as  is  also  a  year  or  more  of 
study  in  Italy.  A  sign  of  the  unrest  and  groping 
for  something  better  in  this  line  is  the  proposal  that 
some  one  denomination  take  over  at  a  regular  theo 
logical  seminary  all  the  specialized  training  in 
church  leadership  for  one  race,  and  another  denomi 
nation  assume  that  for  another  race.  Another  sign 
is  the  recent  formation  of  the  Association  of  Institu 
tions  engaged  in  Missionary  Training,  a  committee 
of  which  has  been  instructed  to  bring  in  a  report  on 
Training  for  Work  among  Foreigners. 


136  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

Specifically  from  the  administration  side  the  ques 
tions  involved  are : 

(1)  Is  there  not  indefensible  waste  in  maintaining 
several  denominational  elementary  schools  of  the 
ology  for  immigrants,  schools  which  foster  an  ex 
cessive  attachment  to  denominationalism? 

(2)  What  shall  be  the  division  of  labor  among  de 
nominations  at  this  point? 

(3)  Is  the  association  of  immature  students  of 
several  races  in  a  polyglot  school  advantageous? 

(4)  How  can  immigrant  students  be  associated 
more  with  American  students  of  both  sexes,  and  with 
American  church  life  for  their  better  American 
ization? 

It  seems  necessary  to  secure  our  young,  illy- 
trained  immigrant  or  American  youth  of  Italian  par 
ents,  who  may  have  no  means,  no  parental  support, 
little  comprehension  of  long-time,  thorough  training, 
but  who  has  been  inspired  by  his  minister  with  the 
ideal  of  entering  Christian  service.  Let  it  be  em 
phasized  that  he  must  be  caught  young  and  perhaps 
with  very  elementary  education.  He  must  be  put 
where  he  may  get  vision  and  preparatory  training, 
and  so  inspired  and  molded  in  his  ideas  that  he  will 
insist  on  further  training.  On  the  one  hand  he  must 
not  be  tempted  to  go  into  active  work  too  soon ;  and 
on  the  other  he  must  be  financially  supported  until 
he  shall  have  complete  training  even  to  a  year's 
study  in  Italy.  The  game  is  worth  the  candle;  it 
has  already  been  proven  so  in  specific  instances. 

One  interesting  variation  in  Italian  leadership  has 
been  the  employment  in  Italian  missions  of  Ameri 
cans  speaking  Italian.  Apparently  it  is  the  Epis 
copalian  denomination  which  has  profited  especially 
from  the  labors  of  workers,  men  and  women,  who 
have  made  use  of  an  unofficial  acquaintance  with 
Italians  and  things  Italian,  to  build  up  Italian  Epis 
copalian  missions.  But  workers  of  more  than  one 


PROBLEMS  OF  RELIGIOUS  LEADERSHIP    137 

denomination  have  spent  time  in  Italy  with  this  ob 
ject  in  view,  and  churches  of  several  faiths  have 
provided  fellowships  for  American  students  that 
they  might  during  a  longer  or  shorter  time  prepare 
themselves  for  leadership  in  Italian  work.  One 
American  at  least  has  attained  a  degree  of  efficiency 
in  the  language  which  enables  him  to  carry  on  all 
the  functions  of  an  Italian  church  as  active  pastor. 
It  would  not  be  -advisable,  even  if  it  were  possible 
as  in  the  above  case,  to  have  many  American  pastors 
in  the  pulpit  of  Italian  churches.  Many  Italians 
cherish  a  racial  pride  which  makes  them  unwilling 
to  accept  such  a  relationship.  But  such  men  have  a 
distinct  value  as  supervisors  or  executive  pastors 
over  several  churches,  or  as  liaison  officers  between 
the  Italian  parishes  and  American  missionary  au 
thority.  The  Italian  pastors  feel  that  here  is  one 
American  pastor  who  fully  understands  them  and 
their  problems,  and  the  American  pastor  in  contact 
with  Italian  colonies  has  one  to  whom  to  refer  his 
puzzling  experiences  with  that  portion  of  the  com 
munity. 

Women  missionaries. — We  have  already  stated 
the  need,  little  short  of  an  absolute  want,  of  a  woman 
missionary  in  every  Italian  mission  if  a  proper  work 
be  carried  on  among  the  women  and  children.  There 
are  some  highly  efficient  Italian  missionaries  scat 
tered  through  the  churches,  and  they  are  appro 
priately  valued  and  esteemed.  Their  scarcity  is  per 
haps  the  most  pressing  problem  of  the  moment. 
They  command  salaries  the  equal  of  those  of  many 
pastors.  The  hardships  and  labors  of  their  life  have 
become  well  known.  And  it  is  only  occasionally  that 
an  Italian  girl  is  willing  or  able  to  take  all  the  steps 
to  prepare  herself  for  this  service.  Hence  many 
American  women  missionaries  are  called  upon  to 
choose  this  especial  task  and  do  their  best,  serving 
the  children  and,  with  greater  handicap,  the  Italian 


138  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

women.    Friendliness  and  good-will  have  done  much 
even  under  language  difficulties. 

It  is  of  course  true  that  a  good  preparatory  train 
ing  is  of  great  advantage  before  specialized  training 
as  deaconess  or  missionary  is  taken.  Several  de 
nominations  offer  this  specialized  training  in  excel 
lent  schools.  The  pressing  demand  for  their  grad 
uates  is  increased  by  the  employment  of  so  many 
women  by  the  Young  Women's  Christian  Associa 
tion  in  its  International  Institutes.  Italian  women 
students  are  received  at  the  Biblical  Seminary  in 
New  York,  formerly  the  Bible  Teachers'  Training 
School.  Many  valued  missionaries  are  graduates  of 
the  training  school  of  the  New  York  City  Missionary 
Society  at  Gramercy  Park  or  of  the  Schauffler  Mis 
sionary  Training  School  at  Cleveland,  Ohio.  The 
International  College  of  Springfield,  Mass.,  has  sent 
forth  women  workers  from  its  social  service  course. 


Chapter  VI 
CONCLUSIONS  AND  EECOMMENDATIONS 

What  is  to  be  the  future  of  the  Italian- American 
churches?  Will  they  continue  to  exist  as  a  special 
group  1  The  conviction  is  that  they  will  continue  to 
exist  and  to  call  for  American  sympathy  and  support 
as  long  as  this  generation  of  immigrants  of  the  peas 
ant  degree  of  culture  is  alive,  and  is  recruited  by 
fresh  immigration.  The  present  outlook  is  that 
Italian  immigration  will  continue  a  mighty  stream 
indefinitely.  Hence  Italian-American  pastors  and 
churches  will  have  a  place  and  work  for  a  time  in 
definitely  long. 

As  an  intermediate  stage  in  the  process  of  Amer 
icanization  of  their  sons  and  daughters,  American 
churches  of  Italian  blood  will  spring  up  ^here  and 
there,  and  continue  as  such  for  a  limited  time.  But 
more  and  more  American  youth  of  Italian  blood  of 
a  certain  stage  of  Americanization  will  be  drawn  to 
the  American  churches,  and  there  find  their  proper 
place.  More  and  more  American  pastors  will  study- 
Italian  colonies  and  learn  how  to  win  Italian- Ameri 
can  families  to  membership  and  fellowship  in  Ameri 
can-speaking  churches. 

Italian-American  missions  have  been  one  of  the 
longest  established  and  best  forces  for  Americaniza 
tion.  In  their  probable  future  as  outlined  above,  it 
would  seem  that  like  the  school  they  will  become  a 
substantial  force  in  racial  assimilation.  The 
churches  will  become  a  most  wholesome  meeting 
ground  for  Italian  youth  and  young  people  of  other 
races  with  resulting  intermarriage.  And  further 
since  the  best  patriotism  is  religious,  and  intelligent 
religion  is  patriotic  in  America,  the  church  imbuing 

139 


140  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

such  youth  with  broad  ideals  cannot  be  other  than  a 
powerful  force  for  national  unification. 

Inasmuch  as  this  bright  and  beckoning  hope  for 
the  future  depends  for  its  accomplishment  upon 
Italian-American  churches,  and  their  American 
friends,  the  following  recommendations  are  offered : 

(I)  That  Italian  pastors  strive  unceasingly  to  in 
spire  choice  young  men  and  women  to  prepare  them 
selves  for  a  life-work  of  Christian  service  among 
their  fellow  countrymen  and  countrywomen. 

(II)  That  a  high  standard  of  character  and  train 
ing  be  insisted  upon  in  candidates  for  the  pastorate 
of  Italian  missions.     That  veteran  and  successful 
Italian  pastors  and  missionaries  be  considered  as  ex 
perts  in  their  field  and  be  so  rated  financially  and 
socially. 

(III)  That  more  American  theological  students 
and  pastors  study  sociology  and  the  Italian  language 
and  seek  directly  and  definitely  to  make  the  Ameri 
can  churches  minister  to  Italians  living  within  the 
bounds  of  their  parishes. 

(IV)  That  American  church  members  seek  to  know 
such  Italians,  in  no  patronizing  sense,  but  upon  the 
basis  of  frankness,  sympathy  and  democracy. 

(V)  That  the  value  of  the  service  to  be  rendered 
by  the  Italian  mission  be  constantly  emphasized  in 
the  American  church  having  such  a  mission  under  its 
care;  and  that  the  most  sympathetic  and  devoted 
laymen  be  appointed  to  committees  to  guide  and 
serve  such  affiliated  missions. 

(VI)  That  directorates   of  missionary  societies 
provide  for  a  closer  and  more  intelligent  supervision 
of  Italian  missions,  their  policy  always  taking  into 
account  both  American  church  ideals  and  methods, 
and  Italian  psychology. 

(VII)  That  denominationalism  be  minimized  and 
its  jealousies  rigorously  eliminated,  for  efficiency  in 
the  central  task  of  evangelization  in  Italian  parishes 


CONCLUSIONS  AND  RECOMMENDATIONS     141 

and  colonies,  for  accord  in  the  proper  solution  of  the 
problem  of  theological  preparation,  and  for  cob'pera- 
tian  and  economy  in  religious  publicity  and  litera 
ture. 

(VIII)  That  Italian  pastors  train  themselves  more 
consciously  in  the  art  of  meeting  Americans  and  co 
operating  with  them ;  that  they  inform  themselves  of 
all  proper  agencies  dealing  with  Americanization 
and  Christianization  and  cooperate  with  them,  in  so 
far  as  circumstances  permit. 

(IX)  That  Italian  pastors  avoid  attacks  upon  the 
Eoman  Catholic  Church  and  upon  socialism;  but, 
rather  cultivate  in  themselves  and  in  their  members 
the  art  of  sympathetic  approach  to  bigoted  Eoman- 
ists,  and  socialists  bitter  towards  Christianity. 

(X)  That  Italian  pastors  teach  and  exemplify 
the  ideal  of  community  service,  in  order  that  evan 
gelical  convictions  may  bear  their  proper  fruit  in 
serviceful  living. 

(XI)  That  the  building  of  attractive  and  useful 
edifices,  which  enhance  the  respect  of  Italian-Ameri 
cans  for  Protestantism,  become  a  definite  policy. 

(XII)  That  the  service  of  worship  in  Italian  mis 
sions  be  a  subject  of  constant  study,  the  aim  being 
to  produce  through  church  music,  procedure,  ves 
ture  and  atmosphere,  an  adapted  and  effective  Ital 
ian-American  Protestant  ritual. 

(XIII)  That  Italian  pastors  study  to  make  the 
program  of  social  work  minister  to  and  win  all  mem 
bers  of  the  Italian  family. 

(XIV)  That  Sunday  Schools  dealing  with  Italian- 
American  children  be  assisted  by  the  best  American 
teachers  obtainable ;  that  curriculum  and  methods  be 
adopted  which  take  into  account  the  peculiar  needs 
and  habits  of  Italian  life  and  thought ;  and  that  con 
stant  ende'avor  be  made  to  bring  the  Sunday  School 
message  and  friendships  back  to  the  parents  in  the 
home. 


Appendix  A 

EXAMPLE  OF  A  COMPLETE  PROGBAM  FOB 
ITALIAN  MISSIONS 

A  Home  Missions  Program  offered  by  the  Com 
mittee  on  Policy  for  the  Board  of  Home  Missions 
and  Church  Extension  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church : 

I.  Approach  to  the  family  as  a  whole 

(a)  Home  visitor,  a  woman  speaking  Italian, 
with    American    training    and    American 
spirit.    Such  a  one,  bilingual,  could  work 
with  little  children  in  English,  and  con 
duct  other  classes  possibly  in  Italian.    The 
future  objective  to  be  Italian  women  thor 
oughly  trained. 

(b)  Family  gathering  for  everybody  in  the 
church  parlors  or  house.     Music,  games, 
pictures,  etc.    Becognize  the  family  unit. 

(c)  Meetings  in  the  home.    The  coming  in  of 
the  stranger  draws  all  the  neighbors  so 
that  a  program  may  be  used.    Special  at 
tention  to  home  meetings  for  girls. 

II.  Approach  to  the  family  for  adult  Italian  groups 

(a)  Bilingual  staff  members:  a  lawyer,  physi 
cian,   employment   agent,    and   a  printer 
whose  service  may  be  used  for  help  among 
the  Italians  in  the  community. 

(b)  Beligious  service  of  worship  in  Italian. 

(c)  Mothers'  Club  in  Italian. 

(d)  Men's  clubs  for  learning  English  and  citi 
zenship. 

143 


144  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

(e)  Use  of  Italian  literature. 

(f )  Beligious  instruction  in  Italian. 

(g)  Illustrated  lectures  and  moving  pictures, 
(h)  Italian  festas  and  patriotic  days  as  point 

of  contact :  celebration  of  the  20th  of  Sep 
tember  for  example, 
(i)    Making  use  of  musical  interest. 

III.  Approach  in  English  to  children  and  young 

people. 

(a)  Attendance  upon  English  church  service. 

(b)  Eeligious     instruction     in     the     Sunday 
school. 

(c)  Belated  week-day  club  activities,  emphasis 
being  on  expressional  work  such  as : 

Eecreational  Club 

Gymnasium  Club 

Choral  societies 

Dramatic  clubs 

Boy  Scouts 

Knights  of  King  Arthur 

Campfire  Girls 

Sewing 

Cooking 

Painting 

Drawing 

Sculpturing 

(d)  Illustrated  lectures  and  moving  pictures. 

(e)  Daily  Vacation  Bible  School. 
(f),  Flower  Mission. 

(g)  Fresh  Air  Work, 
(h)  Camps. 

IV.  Training  for  non-English  speaking  leaderships. 

The  manifest  needs  are  : 
1.   American    ministers    trained    for   work 
•among  Italians. 


APPENDIX  A  145 

2.  Italian  men  trained  for  work  among  Ital 

ians  in  this  country. 

3.  Training  for  Italian  lay  workers. 

4.  Training  for  Italian  women  workers. 

5.  Training  for  American  women  for  work 

among  Italians. 


Appendix  B 

SCHEDULE  OF  JUDSON  NEIGHBORHOOD 
HOUSE 

(Baptist) 

179  Sullivan  Street,  South  of  Washington  Square, 
New  York  City. 

Miss  Allene  Bryan Head  Worker 

Miss  Hazel  Ilsley Girls'  Worker 

Miss  G.  Rousseau   Kindergartner 

Mrs.  Bessie  L.  Burger Matron 

Miss  Flora  Osgood Nurse 

Miss  E.  Frazier  .  .  Assistant  Nurse 


Sunday : 

10 :00— 11 :30  A.M. 


Monday  : 
1 :30—  6 
9 :00— 12 
3:30—  5 
3 :30—  5 
3 :30—  5 
4:00—  5 
7:30—  9 
7:30—  9 
7:30—  9 


:00 
:00 
:00 
:00 
:00 
:30 
:00 
:00 
:00 


P.M. 
A.M. 
P.M. 
P.M. 
P.M. 
P.M. 
P.M. 
P.M. 
P.M. 


Tuesday: 

7 :30—  6 :00  P.M. 
9:00—12:00  A.M. 
2 :30—  5  :30  P.M. 
3 :30—  5 :00  P.M. 
3:30—  5:00  P.M. 
7 :30— .  9 :00  P.M. 
7:30—  9:00  P.M. 
7:30—  9:00  P.M. 


Bible  School  (Italian  Church). 


Day  Nursery. 
Kindergarten. 
Gymnasium  Class. 
Nutrition  Class. 
Recreation  Club. 
Music  School. 
Dramatic  Club. 
Boys'  Club. 
Nutrition  Class. 


Day  Nursery. 
Kindergarten. 
Dental  Clinic. 
Make  Good  Club. 
Hand  Craft  Club. 
English  and  Civic  School. 
Boys'  Club. 
Girl  Reserves. 

146 


APPENDIX  B 


147 


Wednesday: 

7 .30—  6 :00  P.M. 
9:00—12:00  A.M. 
3:30—  5:00  P.M. 
3 :30—  5 :00  P.M. 
7:00—  9:30  P.M. 
7:30—  9:00  P.M. 


Day  Nursery. 

Kindergarten. 

Nutrition  Class. 

Junior  S.  S.  Group,  3  Clubs. 

Dental  Clinic. 

Bible   Classes  and  Italian  Prayer 

Service. 
7:30—  9:00  P.M.    Boys'  Club. 


Thursday: 

7.30—  6:00  P.M. 
9:00—12:00  A.M. 
2:00—  4:00  P.M. 
2 :30—  5  :00  P.M. 
3 :30—  5 :00  P.M. 
7 :30— .  9 :00  P.M. 
7:30—  9:00  P.M. 
7:30—  9:00  P.M. 

Friday : 

7:30—  6:00  P.M. 
9:00—12:00  A.M. 
3 :30-_  5 :00  P.M. 
7 :30—  9 :00  P.M. 

Saturday : 

7:30—12:00  A.M. 

10:00—12:00  A.M. 

5:00—  6:00  P.M. 

7:30—10:00  P.M. 


Day  Nursery. 

Kindergarten. 

Dental  Clinic. 

Boys'  Club. 

Music  School. 

Scouts. 

Older  Boys'  Clubs,  3  Clubs. 

English  and  Civic  School. 


Day  Nursery. 
Kindergarten. 
Nutrition  Class. 
Senior  S.  S.  Group. 


Day  Nursery. 
Industrial  School. 
Music  School. 
Family  Night. 


Appendix  C 


PBOGRAM  OF  DAVENPOET  SETTLEMENT, 
NEW  HAVEN,  CONN. 


Social  Clubs 

Little  Playmates 

Work-and-Play 

Defenders 

Young  Americans 

Eed  Rose 

Kolawita 

Arrows 

Beacons 

Hustlers 

Greene  Rivals 

Academics 

Elmwoods 

"Religious  Work 

Italian  Sunday  School 

Italian  Sunday  School 
Teachers'  Meeting 

Midweek  Prayer  Meet 
ing 

Midweek  Bible  Study — 
Juniors 

Midweek  Bible  Study — 
Primary 

Italian  Sunday  Preach 
ing 

Hungarian  Preaching 

Hungarian  Class 

Italian  Mothers'  Class 

Bambini 

Special    Service — Hun 
garian  New  Year's 

Sunday  afternoon  Open 
House 


Community  Welfare 
Library 
Reading  Room 
Play  Ground 
Junior  Boys 

Gym 

Basketball 
Junior  Girls 

Folk  Games 

Story  Hours 
Senior  Boys 

Pool 

Gym 

Basketball 

Games  Room 
Baths 

Social  Events 
Sale 

Visiting  Day 
S.  S.  Teachers'  Supper 
Social    Workers'    Con 
ference 
Games 

Educational  and  Industrial 
Music  Lessons 
Sewing  Classes 
Dressmaking  Classes 
Basketry  Class 
Handicraft  Class 
Study  Room 
Chorus 


148 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  following  works  or  articles  are  referred  to  in 
the  foregoing  study.  Those  starred  are  considered 
by  the  writer  as.  furnishing  the  most  and  the  most 
valuable  information  upon  some  phase  or  phases  of 
the  subject  as  it  has  been  treated.  While  the  list  is 
brief,  the  works  in  total  are  comprehensive  of  the 
whole  subject. 

ANNUARIO  STATISTICO  ITALIANO,  1915    (Abstract  of  the 

Census) . 
ARRIGHI,  ANTONIO— The  Story  of  Antomo,  the  Galley- 

Slave. 

*  ABBOTT,  GRACE — The  Immigrant  and  the  Community. 
*BAGOT,  RicHABD—IteZtatts  of  Today. 
BAGOT,  RICHARD— My  Italian  Year. 
BRACE,  C.  L.— The  Dangerous  Classes  of  New  York. 
CAPOZZI— Protestantism  and  the  Latin  Soul. 
CARR,  JOHN  FOSTER— A  Guide  to  the  United  States  for 

Italian  Immigrants. 

Catholic  Encyclopedia,  The,  article  Italians^ 
*CLARK,  FRANCIS  E.— Our  Italian  Fellow-Citizens. 
*COULTER,  CHARLES  W.—The  Italians  of  Cleveland  (Pam 
phlet  of  the  Cleveland  Americanization  Committee). 
*FOERSTER,  J.  H.— Italian  Emigration  of  Our  Times. 
GIAMPICCOLI,  ERNESTO— Relazione  Annuana  del  Modera- 

tore  della  Chiesa  Valdese,  1920. 
Immigration  Journal,  September,  1916. 
INTERCHURCH  WORLD  MOVEMENT— Studies  of  New  Ameri 
cans,  Religious  Education,  William  B.  Sly. 
INTERCHURCH  WORLD  MOVEMENT— Studies  of  New  Ameri 
cans,  Literature,  Amy  Blanche  Greene. 
Literary  Digest,  October  11,  1913.  . 

*Luzzi,  GIOVANNI— The  Struggle  for  Christian  Truth  in 
Italy. 


150  THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 

*MANGANO,  ANTONIO — Religious  Work  among  Italians  in 
America,  pamphlet. 

*MANGANO,  ANTONIO— Sons  of  Italy. 
*MABIANO,  JOHN  H. — The  Italian  Contribution  to  Ameri 
can  Democracy. 
*McCLURE,  ARCHIBALD — Leadership  in  the  New  America. 

METHODIST  EPISCOPAL.  BOARD  OF  HOME  MISSIONS,  Sug 
gested  Program  for  Italian  Missions. 

ODENCRANTZ,  FLORENCE — Italian  Women  in  Industry. 
PREZZOLINO,    GIUSEPPE — The    Fascisti,    article    Century 
Magazine,  September  1921. 

Ens,  JACOB — A  Ten  Years'  War. 

Bus,  JACOB — How  the  Other  Half  Lives. 
*SARTORIO,  ENRICO  C. — The  Social  and  Religious  Life  of 
Italians  in  America. 

SIMPSON,  A.  B. — Michele  Nardi:  His  Life  and  Work. 

SPERANZA,  GINO  C. — Articles:  Atlantic  Monthly,  Febru 
ary  1920 ;  Outlook,  Vol.  119. 

STEINER,  EDWARD  A. — A  Broken  Wall. 

STEINER,  EDWARD  A. — The  Immigrant  Tide:  its  Ebb  and 
Flow. 

SHRIVER,  WILLIAM  H. — Immigrant  Forces. 

THOMAS — Treatment  of  Immigrant  Heritages,  manu 
script  Carnegie  Corporation  Studies. 

TRAIN,  ARTHUR. — Courts,  Criminals  and  the  Camorra. 

U.  S.  Commissioner  of  Labor,  7th  Special  Eeport,  1894, 
The  Slums  of  Great  Cities. 

U.  S.  Bulletin  of  Labor,  1907,  Emily  Fogg  Meade,  The 
Italian  on  the  Land. 

U.  S.  Bulletin,  Bureau  of  Labor,  No.  72,  Sheridan,  F.  J., 
Italian,  Slavic  and  Hungarian  Unskilled  Immigrant 
Laborers  in  the  United  States. 

U.  S.  Industrial  Commission,  Volume  15. 

U.  S.  Report  of  the  Commissioner-General  of  Immigra 
tion,  1914. 

U.  S.  Bureau  of  Census,  Birth  Statistics  for  the  Registra 
tion  Area  of  U.  S.,  1915,  1st  Annual  Report. 

VIVIAN,  HERBERT — Article:  Fortnightly  Review,  Volume 
104. 

WARNER,  ARTHUR  H.— Article:  National  Geographic 
Magazine,  Vol.  20 :  1062. 

WEYL,  W.  E.— Article:  Outlook,  Vol.  94. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  151 

Year  Book  of  Grace  Parish.  (Protestant  Episcopal,  New 
York),  1915. 

Young  Women's  Christian  Association,  International  In 
stitute  Pamphlets. 


INDEX 


Agriculture,  18-24,  57,  58;  in 
the  North,  18;  in  the  South, 
19;  defective  methods,  19,  21. 

American  churches,  Italians  in, 
126. 

Americanization,    83. 

American  living  standards,  63. 

Appendices  (A)  Methodist  Epis 
copal  Home  Mission  Pro 
gram,  143;  (B)  Schedule  of 
Judson  Memorial  Neighbor 
hood  House,  146;  (C)  Pro 
gram  of  Davenport  Settle 
ment,  148. 

Arrighi,  111,  133. 

Assimilation,  forces  of,  92; 
point  of  view,  92. 

Atheism — Italian   drift   to,    107. 

Banker,   70. 

Baptist  church  in  Italy,  the,  48. 

Bible,    The,    its    growing   power, 

50;   Italian  versions  of,   50. 
Bibliography,    149. 
Black  Hand,  79. 


Economic   conditions,   60. 

Education  in  Italy:  elementary, 
31;  in  morals,  32;  Educa 
tional  forces,  84-97;  malign, 
84,  85. 

Education  of  military  life,  33. 

Emigration  in  general,  24;  to 
U.  S.,  <25;  causes  of,  26; 
early,  26;  industrial  char 
acter,  27;  type  of,  27;  by  lo 
cality,  28;  permanency,  28; 
future  outlook,  (29;  illiteracy, 
31. 

Employers  and  Italian  labor,  83. 

English    classes,    93. 

Evangelization,  116,  117;  co 
operation  of  Americans  and 
Italians,  124. 

Family  life  in  Italy,  33,  35;  in 
U.  S.,  73;  parents  and  chil 
dren,  74,  75. 

Family  in  industry,  The,  64. 

Fascisti,  40. 

Feudalism,  24. 

Gabelotto,  22,  23. 
Garibaldi,  15,  26,  38. 


Camorra,  The,   79. 
Campanilism,   38,  61,   72. 

Cavour,  15.  Hymnology,   Italian,    130. 

Church,    The,    a    business,     15;  Home    Mission    program    for   an 

building,     45;     finance,     118;  •*••   •••    -    •»«•    ™    -i 1-    i/«o 


difficulties   of,    122;    organiza- 


Italian  M.  E.  church,  142. 


Illiteracy  in  Italy,   31. 


tion,    types    of,    124.  _ ^    ^ 

Clot,  Rev.  Alberto,   111.  Immigration,      causes     of,      54; 

Colonies    and    assimilation,    60;  distribution    of,    53,    54. 

and   clans,    61;    and   industry,       Immigrants:  protective  agencies, 
62.  94;    social    conditions   of,    65; 

Community  idea,   The,   93.  unrest  of,   66. 

Conversions,  examples  of,  121.          Industries,   17;    Italians   in,   55; 

in  manufactures,  56,  57 ;  min 
ing,   56;    building  trades,   56; 
agriculture,  57. 
Institutional  work,  93 ;  churches, 


Davenport   Settlement,    147. 
Deforestation,  20. 
Delinquency    and   crime,    77 
Dialects,  39. 


113. 


153 


154 


THE  ITALIANS  IN  AMERICA 


Intermarriage,  76. 

Ir religion,   a   heritage,  42. 

Italian  children  in  advanced 
schools,  87. 

Italian  pastors,  growing  effi 
ciency  of,  126. 

Italians,  deficient  in  religious 
sentiment,  47. 

Italy,  a  crucible  of  social  ex 
periment,  14;  economic  con 
ditions,  16;  geographical  po 
sition,  13;  immigrant  love 
for,  72;  Italian  racial  alle 
giance,  96;  meeting  ground  of 
races,  13;  religious  condi 
tions,  43;  social  conditions, 
30;  the  South,  14;  unity,  15. 

Judson  Neighborhood  House, 
145. 

Landlords,  21;  absentee,  21; 
evils  of  absenteeism,  22. 

Leadership,  89-92;  growth  of, 
91;  problems  of,  132-138. 

Libraries,   88. 

Literature,  88;  Italian,  88;  re 
ligious,  88,  127-131. 

Mafia,  The,  37,  38. 
Magazines,    Italian,    131. 
Mangano,   112. 
Malaria,   20,  21. 
Mazzini,   15,  43. 
Meridionale,   14,   17,  21,  40. 
Methodist   Episcopal   Church   in 

Italy,   48,  52,   132. 
Military  life  in  Italy,   33. 
Mission   to   Italians,   beginnings 

of,  110. 

Modernism,   51. 
Moral  standards,  36. 
Moral     values     in     north     and 

south,  37. 

Nardi,  111,  132. 
Nationalism,   38. 
Naturalization,   95. 
Newspapers,     Italian,     88;     re 
ligious,    128;    secular,    88-89. 

Organized  labor,  attitude  to,  82. 


Padrone,  69. 
Papacy,    14,   42. 
Parochial   schools,   86. 
Pastoral  work,  vital,   118. 
Peasantry,    18;    attitude   toward 

religion,   44. 
Politics,     first     ideals     in,     80; 

Italians    in    office,    81. 
Preaching,    effective,    120. 
Protestant    effort,    challenge    to, 

108;      faith      retained,      104; 

Italian  ministers'  methods  of 

work,   114,   115. 
Protestantism  in  Italy,  program 

of,  52;  in  Sicily,  49;  strength 

of,  49;   variant  ideas  of,   117. 
Public    opinion,   defective,   39. 
Public   School,   The,   86. 

Recommendations,  139-141. 

Recreation,   74. 

Reformation    in   Italy,    The,    41. 

Return  movement  to  Italy,  59. 

Riis,   Jacob,   68;    quoted,   81. 

Ritual,   1(20. 

Roman  Catholicism  transplanted, 

Roman  Catholic  Church,  break 
of  Italians  from,  100;  char 
acter  of  effort,  100;  indiffer 
ence  analyzed,  105;  slow  be 
ginnings  here,  99;  social 
service,  102;  (Italian)  trans 
planted,  99;  summary,  103. 

Rural  life  in  Italy,  A  northern 
village,  33;  A  southern  town, 
34. 

Rural  women,  faith  of,  46. 

Settlement      work,      Davenport. 

147. 
Sicily     and     Sicilians,     13,     15, 

17,  19,  20,  22,  23,  24,  61,  120. 
Social   conditions   in   Italy,    30; 

in  U.  S.,  67. 

Socialism,  in  Italy,  40,  41;  Ital 
ians  drift  to,  40,  107. 
Southern     town,     A,     34;      the 

houses,    35;    the    people,    36; 

the  piazza,  35. 
Standards  of  living,  cleanliness, 

68;   diet,  69;  housing,  67,  68; 

of    Italian    workmen,    17;    of 


INDEX 


155 


southern  Italy,  23;  in  U.  S., 
63. 

Street  preaching,  117. 

Success  and  failure  as  farmers, 

59. 

Suffrage  in  Italy,  31. 
Sunday  school,  The,  central,  115. 

Taxes  in  Italy,  24. 

Tent  work,  117. 

Thrift  of  Italians,  62. 

Tract  literature,  Italian,   129. 

Unity  of  Italy,  15. 


Wages  of  Italians,  18;  in  U.  S., 

63. 
War,  The  Great,  30;  an  agency 

in   Americanization,    97. 
Waldensians,    in   Italy,    47,    52; 

in  U.  S.,  104,  111,  132. 
Wesleyan    Methodists    in    Italy, 

48. 
Women   Missionaries,    137. 

Y.  M.  C.  A.,  29,  49,   109;    and 

Italian  youth,  108. 
Y.   W.   C.   A.,   49,   76,   93,    109; 

institutes  of,  138. 


Victor  Immanuel  II,  15,  16. 
Village  life  in  Italy,  moral,  36. 


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